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Induced Demand: Potomac edition

2017-12-08 21:21:47.156813+00 by Dan Lyke 3 comments

Greater Greater Washington: A new Potomac River bridge is a bad idea, even for drivers, a study shows.

In fact, all forms of transportation have the same effect. Transportation makes cities larger but doesn't actually make your commute shorter. This principal is called Marchetti's Constant. Italian physicist Cesare Marchetti noticed that from ancient Rome to today, cities (then) or metro areas (now) are about the size you can traverse in an hour, or 30 minutes to the center. If it's on foot, that's one size; on a horse, another; streetcar, another; cars, another.

[ related topics: Interactive Drama Invention and Design Television Public Transportation ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: Induced Demand: Potomac edition made: 2017-12-09 20:34:28.488972+00 by: TheSHAD0W

Because cities grow up as well as out, they get denser, and the increased traffic makes the commute longer no matter what you do - unless you put a limit on infill.

#Comment Re: Induced Demand: Potomac edition made: 2017-12-11 02:52:25.846377+00 by: TheSHAD0W

... And now that I think about it, I wonder if changes in commute time due to infill helps to predict neighborhoods going to seed.

#Comment Re: Induced Demand: Potomac edition made: 2017-12-11 18:46:19.717976+00 by: Dan Lyke

And if you put a limit on infill, travel distances become longer and you need more lanes to accommodate the traffic.

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