[linuxftw]

The problem is there's only so much room for automobiles in a city. The more you decrease traffic, the more you'll induce demand to fill those improved traffic flow patterns.

The more infrastructure that is built downtown, the more people want to be downtown.

[supertrope]

This. Traffic congestion is the result of many choices society has made. Subsidize driving or mass transit? Use land for more parking/roads/interchanges or housing/business/retail? Live close to work and pay high rent or commute 30 min. or more to save money? Allow flexible hours or require everyone to come in at 8 a.m.? Toll roads?

[jcims]

Now you've got a cool simulator to prove it!

[FeepingCreature]

That's not a reason to not improve infrastructure anymore than "the more chocolate we produce the more people want to buy chocolate" is a reason not to make chocolate. It just shows you're ludicrously underserving demand.

[supertrope]

Efficiency matters. If allocating 100 million currency units to widening a highway from 5 lanes to 6 lanes improves people/hour capacity and quality of life less than other solutions, the other solutions should be chosen. In addition to diminishing returns on the way we’ve always done it, there’s a hard limit of about 2000 cars/hour/lane.

Chocolate is not free at the point of use but roads usually are. Without price signals or other limits people over-consume resulting in a shortage and people paying in time.

[lotsofpulp]

Hence an easy solution to traffic is increase the cost of driving. Which Seattle already has dynamic tolls which change in price:

https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Tolling/TollRates.htm

[FeepingCreature]

The fact that it induces demand makes it more efficient, not less.