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What happened when Oslo decided to make its downtown basically car-free?
January 24, 2019/
“Cities, like Oslo, have been built for cars for several decades, and it’s about time we change it,”
It was a huge success: Parking spots are now bike lanes, transit is fast and easy, and the streets (and local businesses) are full of people.
A couple of decades ago, it was perfectly normal to smoke cigarettes inside. Today, very few would do that. I think it’s the same with cars in the city center: One day we will look back and ask ourselves why we ever thought that was a good idea.”
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The Carmageddon Myth
Seattle recently closed the Alaskan Way Viaduct, but the predicted traffic chaos hasn’t ensued.
It’s a corollary of induced demand: when we build new capacity in urban roadways, traffic grows quickly to fill it, resulting in more travel and continuing traffic jams. What we have here is “reduced demand” – when we cut the supply of urban road space, traffic volumes fall.
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