Hey, Stroad Sister

MassDOT has proposed an expensive plan to reduce congestion in Fairhaven, MA…by causing congestion?

$4.7 Billion New Jersey Turnpike Expansion Ignores Local Leaders and Invites More Gridlock

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority plans to spend $4.7 billion updating and widening an eight-mile section of the turnpike, in the hopes of relieving congestion. Here’s why it’s not going to help.

New York's New Experiment in Fighting Gridlock

America’s first experiment with charging a toll to enter a congested urban area is going to begin in New York City next year.

What Causes Traffic Problems? Updating Your Mental Model

Part of why we can't agree on constructive solutions to traffic congestion is that our basic mental model of what causes traffic is wrong. But what if we made a slight update to that model?

Grids Are Good

These observations from a morning detour demonstrate why small neighborhood side streets are better than big, wide highways, even when it comes to moving traffic.

We Need to Embrace Traffic Congestion, Not Fight It

We’ve spent trillions fighting congestion so that it’s easy to drive everywhere. But we’re fighting a losing battle, and simultaneously losing our ability to walk anywhere.

Traffic Congestion Was Last Century’s Problem…but It Is This Century’s Solution

Our national transportation obsession has been about maximizing the amount that you can drive. We now need to focus on minimizing the amount you are forced to drive.

The Fundamental, Global Law of Road Congestion

It goes by many names — the Jevons Paradox, Braess Paradox, Marchetti’s Constant or Downs’ Triple Convergence — but the science is clear: expanding freeway capacity makes traffic worse.

Is Your City Willing to Be Flexible So Small Businesses Can Survive?

Cities all over the world are adapting to give small businesses the best chance to survive the COVID-19 crisis. Will your town or city do the same?

Podcast, Upzoned, Top StoryStrong TownsMay 13, 2020congestion, Podcast, Upzoned, small business, Coronavirus, Kevin Klinkenberg

COVID-19 Is Teaching Us How to Fix Our Traffic Problem. Are We Listening?

Shifting traffic patterns are backing up decades of data: the way to fix our highways isn’t expanding capacity but rather managing demand.

The Congestion Con: How Bad Land Use and Transportation Decisions Go Hand-in-Hand

The way we design our cities guarantees a flood of congestion. And then we pour billions of dollars into highway expansion, only to worsen the problem we created in the first place.

No, Mathematicians Have Not "Solved" Traffic Jams

What kind of problem is traffic? Is it a mathematical or programming problem, a physics problem, an engineering problem, an economics problem, or a cultural, behavioral, or political one? The right answer: “Yes.”

Herriges, Top Story, TransportationDaniel HerrigesJanuary 28, 2020traffic congestion, traffic engineering, congestion

It's Time to Stop Repeating This Damaging Myth About Traffic

No, you’re not stuck in congestion because your city’s infrastructure is “inadequate” to handle growth.

Does Building Transit Reduce Traffic Congestion?

There are a ton of good reasons to invest in transit. Making life easier for drivers isn’t one.

Transportation, Top Story, HerrigesDaniel HerrigesJanuary 7, 2020transit, congestion, induced demand, traffic engineering

"Carmaggedon" Does a No-Show in Seattle. Again.

Not for the first time, the Car-pocalypse failed to materialize around Seattle’s new SR-99 tunnel. This is further proof we’ve been underestimating commuters’ ability to adjust to transportation changes. Have we also been overestimating how much they value these multibillion-dollar megaprojects in the first place?

Transportation, Top StoryJoe CortrightNovember 18, 2019traffic congestion, Seattle, congestion, toll roads, traffic engineering

20 Reasons the New Urban Mobility Report Is Fatally Flawed...Again

Flawed methodology. Lack of accountability. Discrepant data. Egregious assumptions. The new Urban Mobility Report will be used to make or justify transportation policies around the country, which makes it too wrong to be ignored.

The Mobility Trap: Why We'll Never Fix Congestion by Speeding Up Traffic

Love to hate congestion? We’ll never fix it by obsessing over speed or traffic delays. We need to rethink our whole transportation debate, starting with this premise: it’s not about how fast you can go. It’s about what you can get to.

Can Removing Lanes From a Busy Street Actually Make Traffic Better?

A deep, dredged ship canal is a recipe for catastrophic flooding in a hurricane, whereas a coastal marsh absorbs the surge of water in a way that lets life continue to flourish. This analogy has something important to teach us about urban streets.

Roads and Streets, #SlowtheCars, Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesApril 18, 2019road diet, congestion, grid, STROADS, traffic engineering

The Ben & Jerry's Theory of Transportation Economics

Once a year, Ben & Jerry’s gives away ice cream for free—and people line up around the block because the price is so low. There’s a lesson here about urban roads and congestion.