Across America, traffic is brutal. Commutes are long, roads are clogged, and frustration is sky-high. So what’s the typical response? Build more lanes. Add more freeway capacity. Spend billions trying to “relieve congestion.”
But here’s the truth: It doesn’t work. It never has. And it’s making things
worse — for our cities, our climate, and our future.
More Lanes = More Cars = More Emissions
This idea might seem counterintuitive, but it’s backed by decades of data. When
you add lanes to a freeway, you don’t fix traffic — you invite more of it. This
is called induced demand: when driving becomes temporarily easier, more people
start doing it. Trips they once avoided now seem convenient. People move
farther out. Sprawl spreads.
Look at Los Angeles, where thousands of people commute two hours each way from
places like Riverside just to find affordable housing. Widening the 405 didn’t
help. Adding capacity only encouraged more long-distance driving and more time
behind the wheel.
The Carbon Cost Nobody Talks About
More cars on the road means more CO2 — even as electric vehicles grow. But
there’s another layer most people forget: building freeways is a
carbon-intensive process. It involves cement, asphalt, diesel-fueled machinery,
and the destruction of natural land.
And once new roads are built, they fuel sprawling development — which leads to
even more driving. It’s a vicious cycle.
Example? The Katy Freeway in Houston was expanded to a staggering 26 lanes. The
result? Longer commute times and worse congestion than before. Emissions
skyrocketed.
What If We Did the Opposite?
Instead of throwing more asphalt at the problem, what if we made the bold move
to stop expanding — or even reduce — freeway capacity?
Here’s what would happen:
- Driving becomes less convenient — and that’s a good thing.
- Urban density improves, so people live closer to jobs.
- Mass transit becomes more viable and competitive.
- Total vehicle miles drop, cutting carbon at the source.
This isn’t a fantasy. Paris is reclaiming roads from cars and turning them into
greenways. San Francisco tore down parts of its freeway system — and saw
traffic decrease.
It’s Time for LA to Lead
Los Angeles has a chance to show the country what smart urban planning looks
like. We don’t need more lanes on the 405. We need housing near jobs. We need
walkable neighborhoods. We need serious investment in public transit, not
endless expansions of freeways that only lock us deeper into car dependence.
Widening roads is easy. It’s also lazy. The hard — and smarter — path is to
reimagine how we move and where we live.
Let’s stop building our way into more traffic and more emissions. Let’s start
planning a city that actually works.
Sources
1.
1. UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies
(Duranton & Turner). ‘The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion.’
2.
2. Texas A&M Transportation Institute: ‘2019
Urban Mobility Report.’
3.
3. NRDC: ‘The Problem with Widening Highways’
(https://www.nrdc.org/stories/problem-widening-highways)
4.
4. Vox: ‘Why building more highways doesn’t fix
traffic’
(https://www.vox.com/2014/10/28/7076365/traffic-congestion-induced-demand)
5.
5. Streetsblog USA: ‘Katy Freeway Expansion Made
Traffic Worse’
(https://usa.streetsblog.org/2015/08/27/houstons-2-8-billion-freeway-widening-project-made-traffic-worse/)
6.
6. Bloomberg: ‘Paris Plans to Remove Half of Its
Parking Spots’
(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-15/paris-to-remove-70-000-parking-spaces-to-reduce-car-use)
7.
7. Congress for the New Urbanism: ‘Freeways
Without Futures’ report.
