Friday, March 25, 2011

Pave Over Everything, 'cause the market demands it

I recently started reading Commute Orlando and have been reading through a backlog of posts there.  In a recent one, Eric posts the content of a piece from the Washington Examiner by Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard that complains about recent government interest to spend transportation money on projects other than roads for automobiles.

Towards the end of the article, Mr. Barnes has this to say:

Cars and drivers, sad to say, don’t function in a free market world. Both are highly regulated, sometimes for good, sometimes not. If the law of supply and demand were operative, we’d see a smarter approach to improving transportation in America.
The supply of cars would create a demand for more roads and bridges to accommodate them, just as food lines outside a grocery store create demand for more grocery stores....


Apparently he hasn't seen the research indicating that increasing road capacity only temporarily reduces congestion.  By this supply and demand interpretation and voice he apparently has no problem with paving over the world so that there is more space to operate those cars --which is only possible outside of built cities, therefore necessitating more construction in a way to allow room for cars that requires cars to successfully operate.  Oh, and apparently limitless supplies of money to build and maintain those miles of highway.

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