Brent Toderian came across an interesting analysis of transportation planning in, of all places, a rebooted DC super-hero comic:
In the new Flash no.1 released a few months back, the issue opens with Barry Allen, the Flash’s secret identity, on a date at a huge tech fair in Central City. As Allen admires a proposed green high-speed transit technology that runs on renewable energy, his date asks “if they want to improve traffic, why not finish the downtown freeway?”
Cue the symposium curator and genius scientist, Dr. Elias, who appears and announces that “finishing that monstrosity will just make things worse!”
Allen supports Elias’ passion for the mass transit project, but asks “how is adding more roads a bad thing?”
Elias responds “Ever hear of the Law of Congestion? Building more highways doesn’t reduce traffic – it does the opposite. It increases the volume of motorists and generates even more traffic”, he says emphatically.
Allen’s date observes “maybe we should knock them down instead.”
“Right!”, says Elias. “In Seoul, South Korea they demolished an elevated highway leading to a rejuvenation of the area AND a reduction in traffic…”
Alas, we’ll never know what other pearls of progressive transportation planning wisdom Elias and Allen might have shared. Just then, evil villains crash through the skylight and start gassing the symposium, forcing Allen to become The Flash and save the day.
