So more lanes don't reduce congestion, but this article ignores the fact that they obviously DO increase quality of life, by giving people the freedom to live and work where they choose. We should build more lanes for that reason alone. The reason congestion doesn't get better is simply that there is pent-up demand for driving. The solution isn't "tough luck, adjust your life to fit the traffic." It's to build more lanes, so people can choose to live the life they want to live.
If you only consider the aspect of freedom, maybe. But there are more aspects of quality life to consider imo. Spending hours in a car, practically standing still, causes stress. More lanes? More stressed people, higher volume of traffic jam - is that still freedom, sitting inside a metal cage while you can't go forward or backward? Increased number of cars driving means increased pollution. More lanes means less space for buildings and nature. Etc. I get your point, but I think there is more to it.
This argument boils down to: "People don't know what's best for themselves, so we shouldn't give them what they clearly want." I can sympathize with that somewhat, but I think that's a dangerous direction for a government to go in.
Perhaps not, if you take into account the resource costs of road infrastructure (which are fairly hidden by government) and the health impact of automobile usage (from pollution, commuting hours, and obviously road accidents).
The thing is, massive public subsidies for roads might be the reason that so many people need to travel far from their homes to their work. You're assuming that the causal relationship goes one way, but it could just as easily go the other way.
Short term maybe, but long term it is really just a waste of resources and certainly not a better life for the next generations.
Promoting alternatives outside big cities and spending the money there to attract companies instead of spending it on roads would make much more sense.
By all means, then pay for YOUR ROADS which get YOU to YOUR MCMANSION SHITHOLE. Those of us who choose to be more rational about where we live, rather than adhering to an absurd ideal of a homestead that simulates a farm while having a modern, urban job far away shouldn't have to finance your silly fucking lawn and your boring, awful neighborhood.
I have 2 kids, and I've made urban living work. Courtesy of Virginia's former governor (now on trial for felony corruption charges) our roads are no longer funded by gasoline taxes, and are instead funded by a sales tax that people like me, who walk to work, have to fucking pay. If I had my way, all of you commuter idiots would have to pay a toll for all roads. Its absurd that I can't ride a subway for free, but you get to use public infrastructure while the rest of us pay to maintain it.
Your "freedom to live and work" is actually a freedom to take from urban people and give to yourself to finance your unsustainable, silly lifestyle.
If you want to live in the country, then fucking work in the country. Grow something other than a useless, decorative plant that requires extensive fertilizer and watering.
The solution:
Tough luck, adjust your life to your dumbass decision to live in the suburbs.
If you were one of the people that lives close to work, you now have to compete for jobs with people from further away. Which means that you now have to probably drive 30 miles for a job, since that one a mile down the road is taken up by someone who lives 30 miles away.
On a smaller scale, I grew up in the middle of two medium-sized towns, the one north of me had factories, and the one south of me had other factories. In towns A and B, there were about as many people working from the other town as there were local. But without the roads, everyone would be more likely to work a couple miles from home, and probably be happier (type of work, pay rate, etc were about the same between the two).
Good luck with that. What if it is your back garden that get tarmacked over?
In the UK we tried this under the Thatcher government. Margaret Thatcher was allergic to trains and wanted to encourage private ownership of cars as much as possible. Vast swathes of South East England were turned to roads so that happy motorists could get around a few minutes quicker.
Ultimately the Conservatives had to give up on the road-building schemes. It was too expensive to do and the roads really were only encouraging motorists.
The crux of your argument has been tried and tested in the UK. Despite the vast resources and ideology that went into it, it was a battle that was lost.
So what now for the UK? Cycling and buses. It is now socially acceptable to cycle and the government are encouraging it as much as they can in London. Soon it will be 20 mph everywhere in London's boroughs (average speed for cars is ~ 10mph though). There is congestion charging to keep cars out of the capital. With only so many roads, for the commuter, cycling is actually pretty quick. You can also get a bike tax-free with payments spread out over a year.
Buses have been quite transformed in London. The night bus service means that people in service sector jobs can get in or out of the capital at odd hours. Years ago night buses were a nightmare. Now they are clean, safe and quite comfortable if you have some phone/book/tablet for entertainment. The cost is not bad either. People that used to not consider a bus will nowadays take them without hesitation. You can check the times online so you never have to wait an aeon.
Even though we have Conservatives in power - the sworn enemies of public transport - transport in the London area is better than it was. There have been 1/2 million extra Londoners arrive in the last decade or so, no new trains and no new roads. People do spend far too long on the commute - two hours each way is common, but, what do you do when a city gets to be huge?
Personally I wish that the cycle routes were more like 'motorways for bikes' with it possible to go ten miles or so from the suburbs to the centre without having to stop for any lights. Such routes would make commutes by bike all the way a lot more viable. For instance, according to the maps I have 13 miles by bike. I could do that in an hour if there was no start/stop + danger. As it is I cycle for 20 minutes to the train and then get a 35 minute train journey. Those figures sound good, however, I also spend some money on the journey (time=money) plus I have a 10 minute walk at the other end and I like to get to the station ten minutes before the train departs. Therefore I actually spend 1 hour 25 minutes door to door, with a little longer on the reverse journey. So that is 5 hours a week that I could save if I wanted to. What stops me? Those crazy idiots that set out every day to add to the congestion they know is on the roads. I have a quiet ride through the park and some quality time with my phone on the train, thereby avoiding the nutters that are in the dark ages of driving everywhere, single-occupancy style.
