It’s called induced demand. These new drivers are the people who were taking transit, carpooling, commuting off-peak, or simply not driving because they didn’t want to be stuck in traffic. (1/3)
When the traffic went away, they changed their habits. Maybe they even moved further away from work, as the time-cost of their commute went down. Unfortunately, thanks to them and others like them, this honeymoon couldn’t last long. (2/3)
This makes sense once you realize that, in congested systems, the principal constraint to driving is congestion. The question is not whether roads will be congested at rush hour, but how many lanes of congestion you want. (3/3)
