Nobody likes to deal with getting stuck in traffic. A lot of us simply want to drive to work seamlessly, and without having to be stuck in one particular spot for even a minute. Time is precious, we tell ourselves, so it is inane we are wasting it on getting stuck in traffic. For a lot of people, the answer to solving traffic is widening the highways. More lanes, people assume, means people driving cars have more options to choose a lane to drive in. After all, one of the biggest dilemmas we face once we hit traffic is determining if we want to change a lane we believe will get us to our destination faster. So, if drivers have more options, there will be less tension. But studies show that widening lanes tend to have the opposite effect of reducing traffic. More options for drivers actually worsens the situation? This turns out to be the case because if the supply of something increases, so does the demand. As Adam Mann in the Wired puts it, "if you expand people's ability to travel, they will do it more, living farther away from where they work and therefore being forced to drive into town. Making driving easier also means that people take more trips in the car than they otherwise would". (Mann, Wired) In fact, downsizing freeways does not increase traffic. Mann also reports that Paris, France. The result meant more people using public transit, which reportedly increased by 20 percent. A similar approach in Seoul, South Korea had the same effect but also saw a decrease in pollution with more people using public instead of private transportation (Mann, Wired). The problem with traffic remains rampant across the United States. And one of the reasons it remains a problem is the lack of a clear, probable solution. Mann suggests raising tolls during rush hours so that less people will take the toll roads until it's cheaper later in the day, but people obviously do not like paying more for something that is considered cheap. But the most assured thing that would not help the problem with traffic would be increasing the number of lanes on a highway. CITATIONS: Mann, Adam. “What’s Up With That: Building Bigger Roads Actually Makes Traffic Worse.” Wired, 19 July 2018, www.wired.com/2014/06/wuwt-traffic-induced-demand.