It's interesting that they make the point that congestion pricing will induce people to take alternate routes.
The recent update to Google Maps seems to do the same thing. It's much more proactive now about suggesting alternate routes. Here in Seattle, I recently bypassed I-5 by taking an astonishingly complex and twisty route that was all prompted by Google Maps, and I got to my destination five minutes sooner than Google was estimating I would had I stayed on I-5 (although that's impossible to verify since traffic congestion changes throughout the duration of a drive).
All that said, while it was fun (also especially when I avoided a Tacoma I-5 snarl that I hadn't previously known how to avoid), I don't think we actually want to redirect highway drivers onto local streets. Local streets aren't designed for highway overflow; they're designed for local traffic.
Isn't the real answer to design more decentralized town areas so people have less reason to drive long distances, for reasons other than recreation?
sounds like a great solution to the problem if you have the luxury of solving it before it is a problem. i don't think that demolishing and rebuilding the metropolitan Seattle area is a viable solution to the traffic issues that area faces.
The recent update to Google Maps seems to do the same thing. It's much more proactive now about suggesting alternate routes. Here in Seattle, I recently bypassed I-5 by taking an astonishingly complex and twisty route that was all prompted by Google Maps, and I got to my destination five minutes sooner than Google was estimating I would had I stayed on I-5 (although that's impossible to verify since traffic congestion changes throughout the duration of a drive).
All that said, while it was fun (also especially when I avoided a Tacoma I-5 snarl that I hadn't previously known how to avoid), I don't think we actually want to redirect highway drivers onto local streets. Local streets aren't designed for highway overflow; they're designed for local traffic.
Isn't the real answer to design more decentralized town areas so people have less reason to drive long distances, for reasons other than recreation?