smkettner said:
Check your statistics on 80 years of population growth. More people need more roads.
Sure, but the issue is increases in VMT per capita. What happens when more lanes are built, temporarily reducing congestion? Developers build homes further out on cheaper land (pre-meltdown often McMansions), boosting sprawl, which just causes congestion to increase as people drive further to their jobs, adding more time, energy and resource use.
Which is why, to take one example, the Bay Area leads the country in the % of Mega-commuters, people whose one-way commute is more than 50 miles
and 90 minutes (Super commuters meet either one of those criteria, and we also lead the country in that category). It's also why, during the mortgage meltdown and concurrent spike in the price of gas, towns in the central valley that had become bedroom communities for the Bay Area had the highest rate of mortgage foreclosures in the country, as people saw their gas bills (for the large SUVs they'd bought when gas prices were low) jump to $600/month, which combined with job losses and/or reductions was unaffordable. Would anyone describe this as sustainable practice over the long-term?
As the economy picked up, housing prices closer in rebounded to their current ridiculous levels and the trend is once again towards bigger and heavier vehicles. We're probably a bit short of midway in the next such cycle, and despite new HOT/HOV lanes the congestion is worse than before, extending ever further outward. This is largely due to the lack of affordable housing closer in, as Nimbyism as well as developers slow or prevent much housing construction in the cities. This is slowly changing, as zoning rules are being altered (usually after a major political battle) to allow/require AHUs ('granny flats'*) and higher density generally, plus there seems to be a greater recognition among the politicians that they simply can't afford to continue business as usual, e.g.
https://www.citylab.com/transportat...reform-transportation-budget-homeless/580192/
*I live in just such a unit, formerly a garage and converted to an apartment. I'm two blocks from the heart of downtown, and all routine errands and a rapid mass transit station are within 6 blocks, i.e. <=10 minutes walk. Like most Americans, I've lived in places where every single one of my errands would require a car, but for the past 18 years I can and do easily walk to the bank, barber, grocery store, hardware store, drugstore, dry cleaners, post office, library, dentist, audiologist, plus dozens of restaurants, a movie theater multiplex etc. And now I'm off to walk to my local brewpub to watch the Warriors/Rockets