CA Highway gridlock?

In perusing the papers this morning, I found this article about the repairs to the overpasses on the Bay Bridge in Oakland.  As many may have heard, a gasoline tanker crashed and caught fire on an on-ramp.  The resulting blaze collapsed one overpass and severely damaged another resulting in two of the three onramps to the bridge being shut down.  A bridge that serves three times the number of commuters that our own Alaskan Way Viaduct.  Much to my surprise, the article notes that:

The gridlock feared by authorities has failed to materialize, but detours along Oakland streets have raised concern among residents about the increased traffic and pollution.

Meanwhile, the Bay Area Rapid Transit rail system reported record ridership Tuesday with more than 375,000 passengers, up from an average weekday ridership of 340,000.

Since state highway departments use the same projection methods in predicting the impact to traffic patterns from the loss of freeway lanes, one can only wonder about the accuracy of the WSDOT projections of armaggedon with the transit+streets alternative.  This serves as a more example of transportation engineers incorrectly predicting the impact of lost freeway lanes and how people will react. 

Comments

[eldan]

Thanks for posting this - it's interesting news that hadn't reached me. I'd like to read the original article - do you happen to remember where you read it?

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