why does adding more traffic lanes doesn’t help to alleviate traffic congestion?
In: 26
Because to beat peak congestion you would have to add like 12 lanes and 8 lane ramps and 6 lane side streets. You can’t build for peak hours because the rest of the time it is empty.
On normally sized roads, peak congestion causes the most cars possible to fill the road. At this traffic density, average traffic speed is about 40 mph. And due to variance in the speed of individual vehicles, speeds will drop as people brake and the braking action chain reacts backwards.
Cars do not run into traffic, cars are the traffic.
If you simulate a road where the only rules are 1) speed up if there is nothing in front 2) slow down if something is in front then you will get traffic bunching up just on the random speeds and braking action. Traffic clears from the front of a jam and builds from the back.
Add in one accident and it reduces lanes by at least 1 lane and makes everyone have to zipper over, limiting speeds all the way across the lanes.
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