Congested Streets

I just read a blog post that reminded me of something I'd read earlier in Suburban Nation. In Suburban Nation the authors write that many of the strategies used to address heavy traffic situations end up increasing traffic in the long run. More roads and wider roads just invite more traffic and often more congestion as well.

This post by a former classmate of mine compares two streets in Chico, CA. One is an attractive, multi-way boulevard and the other is a typical strip mall type road, the "stroad." The strip mall road seems to have more traffic, but it actually carries less traffic than the multi-way boulevard. This is because of the "27 mph rule," which states that 27 mph is the most efficient speed for moving traffic. As speeds increase over 27 mph, vehicles start to spread out from one another and the street's carrying capacity is reduced. So not only is the multi-way boulevard more attractive, but it actually can carry more traffic than the "stroad."