One thing we keep finding is that traffic adjusts to the infrastructure for it. So if you have a congested eight-lane highway, adding two lanes doesn't make it flow better, you just get a congested ten-lane highway. The extra traffic kind of just appears.
It works in reverse as well; cars used to be able to drive right through Washington Square Park, and when it was proposed to turn the park back over to people, there was a lot of handwringing about how the extra traffic would spill over into the surrounding streets. But it didn't; the extra traffic kind of just disappeared.
Manfromporlock t1_ivy2cbt wrote
Reply to comment by intjish_mom in Exclusive: DOT eyes Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza as NYC's next car-free space by alexd231232
One thing we keep finding is that traffic adjusts to the infrastructure for it. So if you have a congested eight-lane highway, adding two lanes doesn't make it flow better, you just get a congested ten-lane highway. The extra traffic kind of just appears.
It works in reverse as well; cars used to be able to drive right through Washington Square Park, and when it was proposed to turn the park back over to people, there was a lot of handwringing about how the extra traffic would spill over into the surrounding streets. But it didn't; the extra traffic kind of just disappeared.