Induced traffic:
Why Measure B won't solve traffic congestion

Increasing highway capacity increases auto usage, and the same congestion as today returns soon (in as little as two years) after construction. It does not decrease congestion in the long term. This effect is called induced traffic.

The gravity transportation model is used by government agencies to predict future traffic. It relates the number of vehicles and the travel time. Decreasing travel time increases the vehicles and returns the congestion. The graph below shows the relationship and why the congestion returns.

Real solutions to traffic congestion

Our web sites details real solutions for traffic congestion. For example, see Solutions for traffic congestion by the Modern Transit Society.

Transit usage also increases by decreasing transit travel time. But this is an advantage because the cost per rider is lowered. Trains can be added or lengthened. Freeways, in contrast, just congest, and pollution increases.

Measure B encourages sprawl developments

Most of the approximately $2 billion that Measure B locks into road and highway projects is destined for major freeway expansions, not the pothole repairs that proponents tout. Few voters realize that most of the money would go toward sprawl-inducing and environmentally-damaging projects such as

  • Widening Hwy. 101 from Cochrane Road in Morgan Hill to the San Benito County line
  • Widening the Hwy. 101/Tennant Ave interchange in Morgan Hill
  • Building a new Hwy. 101/Buena Vista interchange in Gilroy
  • Widening Hwy. 85 between Stevens Creek Road and Fremont Ave.
  • Building a new “braided ramp” between Hwy. 85 and Foothill Expressway
  • Widening Hwy. 237 and a number of its interchanges

For more information on sprawl, see the Sierra Club's Stop Sprawl Campaign.

 

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