Induced Demand & Roadway Widening: Everything You Always Wanted to Know (and Weren't Afraid to Ask)
What it is
CityNerd Ray Delahanty explains induced demand and what happens when freeways are widened. He walks through the economics of supply and demand applied to traffic and asks how much new traffic appears and whether congestion returns.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters link it as a clearer explanation of induced demand for people who have not studied the topic.
- 3 people recommended it
- 3 different months
- 0 strong recommendations
- first 2022, last 2024
What HN commenters said
“See this video from CityNerd for more details”
Details on why induced demand does not increase efficiency.
noahmasur, 2022-06 · Recommendation · in “Why America can’t build”
“Anyway, Ray explains it better than I could and he agrees that the term is bad”
Better explanation of induced demand, agreeing the term is bad.
tidbits, 2024-06 · Recommendation · in “In Colorado, an ambitious new highway policy is not building them”
“Have you read anything or watched anything about induced demand”
Explains induced demand for those who have not studied it.
oblio, 2024-07 · Recommendation · in “I mapped almost every USA traffic death in the 21st century”
Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.
Topics: induced demand, freeway widening, urban planning, transportation economics, traffic
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