Traffic will never get better than it is today. Seriously, it won't. It will only continue to get worse with every improvement made. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the great traffic paradox(es).
Overall, they state that road improvements will only lead to more traffic due to the ease of access. A couple of mathematicians well beyond my skill have assembled formulas and qualitative studies to prove and illustrate how these paradoxes exist. But they stop a little short of the bigger problem. Our elected officials love to champion road projects in their districts as a sign of progress and improvement. They're always at the ribbon cuttings, aren't they? In their view, they're bringing relief to the constituents who are demanding better traffic flow. As a result, they usually get re-elected or gain some political equity. They're really not to blame because they're simply delivering the will of the people. Which then leads to a cycle of congestion, leading to more road improvements, which leads to more congestion. A paradox.
If we want less development, which reading the papers every week I suspect we do, stop improving the roads. If we want to stem the flow of students at Cape, stop improving the roads. If we want to increase funding for Cape because road improvements are inevitable, we have to tie funding to road improvements, not just developments. If we want to make traffic better, which again, I suspect we do, stop improving the roads.
I know, it doesn't make sense. It's so counterintuitive. I encourage you to look up the works of Braess, Pigou-Knights-Downs and Downs-Thomson. Take some time to fully understand the issue so we can have more productive narratives about traffic, development and infrastructure concerns affecting Sussex County.
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