Found here: https://twitter.com/CarsRuinedCity/status/1677005785862406144?t=Xolo43mUk4GnegFQE19q3g&s=19
Caption: Photo collage of a beach in Alexandria, Egypt, showing a progression in 3 images:
- Alexandria “Problem” - empty beach + walking street + 6 lane road with medium traffic + dense mid-rise buildings (likely housing)
- Alexandria “Solution” - empty beach (doesn’t seem to matter) + narrower walkway or sidewalk + 10 lane brand new and empty road + tiny sidewalk + the same buildings
- Alexandria “Results” - crowded beach + crowded beach walkway + traffic jam on the 10 lane road
If you’re looking for a job and you see an opening but it’s going to take you more than an hour each way to get to and from work, doesn’t that make that job less desirable than jobs that are closer by?
Conversely if you’re looking for a new place to live aren’t you going to consider places that are closer to work to be more desirable?
Suddenly there’s road expansion and a house that used to be 2 hours drive away is now 30 minutes drive from you. So you buy the house.
This would all work out great if you were the only one that thought this. But unfortunately there are many many more people that will also get a house or find a job that’s further way, because it’s only a 30 minutes drive now. So now more people are using the highway and that 10 lane highway is clogged, and that commute time starts going back up. But now you have a mortgage now and so you’re stuck. Everyday in your car for more than an hour each way again.
Cars are simply an inefficient way to move a lot of people. A highway expansion only temporarily solves the problem, but when the highways work well, more people use it and those inefficiencies rear their ugly head again.