Growth does not pay for itself...

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Can we build our way out of traffic jams?

CalTrans official doesn't think so.

From story on the next 4-year widening project on L.A.'s 405 Freeway:

excerpted from
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-405-widening30-2009dec30,0,6125839.story

12/30/2009

Officials also say this will probably be the last major widening of the 405 Freeway, because the cost of such projects begins to outweigh the benefits of adding lanes.

That's because the freeway loses some of its capacity as drivers enter the freeway and weave from lane to lane.

"Really, the 405 is approaching the maximum number of lanes that you can do in a continuous segment," Failing said. "There becomes a point of diminishing returns," he said....