I’m tired of driving through the construction on I-10.
Sure, I enjoyed feeling like Luke Skywalker darting through the trenches on the Death Star for a while, but years of driving down the interstate inches between a concrete wall on one side and 18-wheelers on the other have finally lost its shine.
At least we can all look forward to the day when construction is completed and Baton Rouge’s impressively terrible traffic disappears forever, right?
Unfortunately, a growing number of studies suggest the widening and construction of roads does not reduce traffic congestion and can even exacerbate the problem.
Increasing traffic congestion is an example of induced demand, meaning as the supply of a good, in this case roads, increases, people are encouraged to take advantage of the new supply.
The added congestion comes from a variety of sources as road construction encourages more people to drive in the short term while causing long term population and traffic growth.
Severe traffic in the morning and after work forces many people to leave their homes or businesses earlier or later than they would otherwise prefer. New roads allow these people to leave closer to their preferred time, joining the thousands of people already commuting during high traffic periods. This resulted in little to no change in net congestion.
Another source of influx is former public transportation users.
As roads are built and widened, some people will stop taking the bus or train as driving becomes the more attractive option.
Most of these commuters make their adjustments relatively quickly, but even more drivers will fill the new roads in the long term.
A 1998 Surface Transportation Policy project found 90 percent of road improvements are overwhelmed after just five years, leading to an endless cycle of construction and overcapacity.
Building larger roads into major cities encourages more people to move to surrounding suburbs, either from the city or another area altogether. These new residents then commute via their new highways until the road system is as gridlocked as before the highway’s construction.
Urban planners sometimes fail to account for the increase in demand caused by the creation or widening of roads, believing traffic will increase whether or not a road is constructed. While traffic does gradually increase in most areas, building a new road encourages more drivers to take it.
The road may have served the community’s existing traffic demands, but the sudden influx of new demand caused by the road’s construction causes the system to overflow much sooner than expected.
Road construction is hardly a quick and easy process and can cause significant congestion problems for months or even years before a project is eventually completed. These inconveniences would be acceptable if the construction could actually alleviate congestion, but we have already seen this is not the case.
If we want to reduce traffic, we have to change our behavior and invest in infrastructure allowing growth rather than throwing money away at short term solutions.
Baton Rouge needs to encourage carpooling through a high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, where only cars carrying at least two people are allowed to travel. The Transportation Research Board has found HOV lanes carry more commuters than conventional lanes on the same highway, especially when combined with other traffic mitigation methods.
Modifying Baton Rouge to be pedestrian friendly is probably an impossible task, but encouraging public transportation use through the use of bus lanes and the expansion of bus lines could alleviate some pressure on drivers.
Road construction is not pointless, and Baton Rouge and other expanding communities have to spend some time developing roads because they spur economic and urban growth, but believing they will reduce long-term congestion is illogical.
Putting more lanes on the interstate won’t solve our traffic problems, but changing who can use them just might.
 
Andrew Shockey is a 21-year-old biological engineering junior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_Ashockey.
 
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Contact Andrew Shockey at [email protected]