induced demand

The four biggest myths about induced demand

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Suburban sprawl

Two weeks ago, I laid out the economic argument for induced demand: the idea that building more roads does not reduce congestion. It is a simple model that uses concepts from Economics 101 to explain the relationship between road construction and driving behavior. Even so, this idea, like many associated with new urbanism, challenges the status quo. … [Read more…]

The street economics of induced demand

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There’s a lot of misinformation out there about induced demand, a widely established city planning model that attempts to explain why cities tend to maintain a steady state of congestion. I’ll go into some more detail on the theory of induced demand later, but I wanted to start with the economic model. Auto transportation market The … [Read more…]