I’ve always heard it said that building more lanes doesn’t help but I still don’t understand why. Obviously 8 wouldn’t help anymore than 7 but 3, 4, or maybe 5 for long eways helps traffic filter though especially with the varying speeds.
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Induced demand
Adding more roads and lanes encourages more people to drive vs taking alternative modes of transport (public transit, cycling, etc). So you end up with even more cars on the road.
Similarly if you improve public transit, or provide cycling paths, people will start to use them which reduces traffic.
Adding more lanes tends to make traffic worse overtime so it’s a losing battle. You also have to consider that you have to maintain all of that. Traffic lights, roads, overpasses, etc all cost money and require a lot of upkeep. Where-as a subway is also expensive but after the initial investment costs less to maintain compared to the number of people that use it on a daily basis. In the context of a city a subway is a more efficient way to move lots of people around quickly.
Having a mix of well developed public transport and roads has proven to be more efficient.
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