Thread by @TorontoStar

Doug Ford’s government says building Highway 413 will get us out of gridlock. Its own research suggests that isn’t true, transportation reporter @BenSpurr writes.
thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…

Decades worth of research and real-world experience indicates highway expansions have limited ability to reduce congestion, because traffic volumes quickly increase to fill up new road space and gridlock returns within a matter of years.
thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…

The phenomenon is called “induced demand,” and experts say it doesn’t appear the province has adequately accounted for it in the highway vision it’s pitching to voters.
thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…

“When highway capacity has been expanded, there has been an increase in the amount of driving, and that’s what all the studies show,” said Susan Handy, a professor of environmental science and policy at University of California, Davis. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…

While there’s debate over how fast gridlock returns, “over time you get back to where you were, congestion-wise,” Handy said. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…

One notorious case of "induced demand" is the Katy Freeway in Houston, Texas. An expansion of the chronically clogged highway was completed in 2011 for $2.5 billion (U.S.). By 2014, media reported that trips were taking longer than in 2011. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…