Highway Capacity: A Public Safety Issue?

In a post-9/11 and post-Katrina world, where mass evacuations mean an exodus in private vehicles, does a lack of appropriate freeway capacity represent a public safety hazard, asks Wendell Cox.

1 minute read

September 28, 2005, 7:00 AM PDT

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"An estimated 2.5 million people were able to evacuate from Houston because they had cars and because the roadway system has been upgraded to handle the rising population, writes Wendell Cox.

For nearly two decades, urban planners and environment interest groups have sought by every means possible to prevent the building of new highway capacity. The justification was a belief that building new highways created more traffic, which is akin to believing that building more maternity wards would increase the birthrate.

In most urban areas, traffic congestion has become much worse because road capacity has not kept up with growth. This means more than just a longer trip to work: It means that it will take more time than we have to complete major evacuations if they should be necessary."

FULL STORY: Highways to Hell

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 in National Review

Government / Politics Infrastructure United States

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