IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20220010.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Do highway widening reduce congestion?

Author

Listed:
  • Ioulia Ossokina

    (Eindhoven University of Technology)

  • Jos van Ommeren

    (VU Amsterdam)

  • Henk van Mourik

    (Ministry of Infrastructure and Rijkswaterstaat)

Abstract

Highway construction occurs nowadays mainly through widening of ex- isting roads rather than building new roads. This paper documents that highway widenings considerably reduce congestion in the short run, defined here as 6 years. Using longitudinal microdata from highway detector loops in the Netherlands, we find substantial travel time savings. These savings occur despite strong increases in traffic flow. The welfare benefits in the short run already cover 40% of the widenings’ investment costs. Our paper contributes to an explanation why countries invest in roadworks even when the fundamental law of congestion predicts that travel savings disappear in the long run.

Suggested Citation

  • Ioulia Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, "undated". "Do highway widening reduce congestion?," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-010/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/22010.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucas W. Davis, 2008. "The Effect of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality in Mexico City," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(1), pages 38-81, February.
    2. Miquel-Ángel Garcia-López & Ilias Pasidis & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2015. "Express delivery to the suburbs. The effects of transportation in Europe’s heterogeneous cities," Working Papers 2015/30, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    3. Nicolas Gendron-Carrier & Marco Gonzalez-Navarro & Stefano Polloni & Matthew A. Turner, 2022. "Subways and Urban Air Pollution," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 164-196, January.
    4. Winston, Clifford & Langer, Ashley, 2006. "The effect of government highway spending on road users' congestion costs," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 463-483, November.
    5. Adler, Martin W. & van Ommeren, Jos N., 2016. "Does public transit reduce car travel externalities? Quasi-natural experiments' evidence from transit strikes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 106-119.
    6. Möller, J. & Zierer, M., 2018. "Autobahns and jobs: A regional study using historical instrumental variables," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 18-33.
    7. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2011. "The Fundamental Law of Road Congestion: Evidence from US Cities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(6), pages 2616-2652, October.
    8. Ossokina, Ioulia V. & Verweij, Gerard, 2015. "Urban traffic externalities: Quasi-experimental evidence from housing prices," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1-13.
    9. Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2012. "Urban Growth and Transportation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(4), pages 1407-1440.
    10. Glaeser, Edward L. & Ponzetto, Giacomo A.M., 2018. "The political economy of transportation investment," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 13(C), pages 4-26.
    11. Ismir Mulalic & Jos N. Van Ommeren & Ninette Pilegaard, 2014. "Wages and Commuting: Quasi‐natural Experiments' Evidence from Firms that Relocate," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(579), pages 1086-1105, September.
    12. Brownstone, David & Small, Kenneth A., 2005. "Valuing time and reliability: assessing the evidence from road pricing demonstrations," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 279-293, May.
    13. Larsen, Morten Marott & Pilegaard, Ninette & Ommeren, Jos Van, 2008. "Congestion and residential moving behaviour," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 378-387, July.
    14. Gibbons, Stephen & Machin, Stephen, 2005. "Valuing rail access using transport innovations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 148-169, January.
    15. Hsu, Wen-Tai & Zhang, Hongliang, 2014. "The fundamental law of highway congestion revisited: Evidence from national expressways in Japan," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 65-76.
    16. Baum-Snow, Nathaniel & Henderson, J. Vernon & Turner, Matthew A. & Zhang, Qinghua & Brandt, Loren, 2020. "Does investment in national highways help or hurt hinterland city growth?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    17. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1993. "A Structural Model of Peak-Period Congestion: A Traffic Bottleneck with Elastic Demand," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(1), pages 161-179, March.
    18. Kenneth A. Small & Clifford Winston & Jia Yan, 2005. "Uncovering the Distribution of Motorists' Preferences for Travel Time and Reliability," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(4), pages 1367-1382, July.
    19. Yang, Jun & Chen, Shuai & Qin, Ping & Lu, Fangwen & Liu, Antung A., 2018. "The effect of subway expansions on vehicle congestion: Evidence from Beijing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 114-133.
    20. Or Levkovich & Jan Rouwendal & Jos van Ommeren, 2020. "The impact of highways on population redistribution: the role of land development restrictions [Roads and innovation]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 783-808.
    21. Arnott, Richard & de Palma, Andre & Lindsey, Robin, 1990. "Economics of a bottleneck," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 111-130, January.
    22. Richard H. M. Emmerink & Peter Nijkamp & Piet Rietveld & Jos N. Van Ommeren & Richard H. M. Emmerink & Peter Nijkamp & Piet Rietveld & Jos N. Van Ommeren, 2004. "Variable Message Signs and Radio Traffic Information: An Integrated Empirical Analysis of Drivers’ Route Choice Behaviour," Chapters, in: Location, Travel and Information Technology, chapter 16, pages 343-361, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    23. Teulings, Coen N. & Ossokina, Ioulia V. & de Groot, Henri L.F., 2018. "Land use, worker heterogeneity and welfare benefits of public goods," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 67-82.
    24. Yizhen Gu & Chang Jiang & Junfu Zhang & Ben Zou, 2021. "Subways and Road Congestion," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 83-115, April.
    25. Michael L. Anderson, 2014. "Subways, Strikes, and Slowdowns: The Impacts of Public Transit on Traffic Congestion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2763-2796, September.
    26. Nathaniel Baum-Snow, 2010. "Changes in Transportation Infrastructure and Commuting Patterns in US Metropolitan Areas, 1960-2000," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 378-382, May.
    27. Hansen, Mark & Huang, Yuanlin, 1997. "Road supply and traffic in California urban areas," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 205-218, May.
    28. Jos van Ommeren & Piet Rietveld & Peter Nijkamp & Jos van Ommeren & Piet Rietveld & Peter Nijkamp, 2004. "Job Moving, Residential Moving, and Commuting: A Search Perspective," Chapters, in: Location, Travel and Information Technology, chapter 11, pages 223-246, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    29. Yihsu Chen & Alexander Whalley, 2012. "Green Infrastructure: The Effects of Urban Rail Transit on Air Quality," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(1), pages 58-97, February.
    30. Gu, Yizhen & Deakin, Elizabeth & Long, Ying, 2017. "The effects of driving restrictions on travel behavior evidence from Beijing," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 106-122.
    31. Hymel, Kent, 2019. "If you build it, they will drive: Measuring induced demand for vehicle travel in urban areas," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 57-66.
    32. Nathaniel Baum-Snow, 2007. "Did Highways Cause Suburbanization?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(2), pages 775-805.
    33. Robert E. Lucas & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2002. "On the Internal Structure of Cities," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(4), pages 1445-1476, July.
    34. Kim, Jinwon, 2022. "Does roadwork improve road speed? Evidence from urban freeways in California," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jinwon Kim & Jucheol Moon & Dongyun Yang, 2024. "Pigouvian Congestion Tolls and the Welfare Gain: Estimates for California Freeways," Working Papers 2402, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    2. Anas, Alex, 2024. "“Downs's Law” under the lens of theory: Roads lower congestion and increase distance traveled," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ioulia V Ossokina & Jos van Ommeren & Henk van Mourik, 2023. "Do highway widenings reduce congestion?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 871-900.
    2. Stef Proost & Jacques-François Thisse, 2019. "What Can Be Learned from Spatial Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 57(3), pages 575-643, September.
    3. Claudia N. Berg & Uwe Deichmann & Yishen Liu & Harris Selod, 2017. "Transport Policies and Development," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(4), pages 465-480, April.
    4. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Ilias Pasidis & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2022. "Congestion in highways when tolls and railroads matter: evidence from European cities [The congestion relief benefit of public transit: evidence from Rome]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 22(5), pages 931-960.
    5. Li, Shanjun & Liu, Yanyan & Purevjav, Avralt-Od & Yang, Lin, 2019. "Does subway expansion improve air quality?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 213-235.
    6. Brent, Daniel & Beland, Louis-Philippe, 2020. "Traffic congestion, transportation policies, and the performance of first responders," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    7. Yizhen Gu & Chang Jiang & Junfu Zhang & Ben Zou, 2021. "Subways and Road Congestion," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 83-115, April.
    8. Shihe Fu & V. Brian Viard, 2022. "A mayors perspective on tackling air pollution," Chapters, in: Charles K.Y. Leung (ed.), Handbook of Real Estate and Macroeconomics, chapter 16, pages 413-437, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Lee, Wang-Sheng & Tran, Trang My & Yu, Lamont Bo, 2023. "Green infrastructure and air pollution: Evidence from highways connecting two megacities in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    10. Garcia-López, Miquel-Àngel & Hémet, Camille & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2017. "Next train to the polycentric city: The effect of railroads on subcenter formation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 50-63.
    11. Yang, Jun & Chen, Shuai & Qin, Ping & Lu, Fangwen & Liu, Antung A., 2018. "The effect of subway expansions on vehicle congestion: Evidence from Beijing," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 114-133.
    12. Daniel Albalate & Xavier Fageda, 2019. "Congestion, Road Safety, and the Effectiveness of Public Policies in Urban Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-21, September.
    13. Jinwon Kim & Jucheol Moon & Dongyun Yang, 2024. "Pigouvian Congestion Tolls and the Welfare Gain: Estimates for California Freeways," Working Papers 2402, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    14. Stephan Heblich & Stephen J Redding & Daniel M Sturm, 2020. "The Making of the Modern Metropolis: Evidence from London," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2059-2133.
    15. Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt & Stephen J. Redding & Daniel M. Sturm & Nikolaus Wolf, 2015. "The Economics of Density: Evidence From the Berlin Wall," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2127-2189, November.
    16. Zhi (Aaron) Cheng & Min-Seok Pang & Paul A. Pavlou, 2020. "Mitigating Traffic Congestion: The Role of Intelligent Transportation Systems," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 653-674, September.
    17. Jindong Pang & Shulin Shen, 2023. "Do ridesharing services cause traffic congestion?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(2), pages 520-552, May.
    18. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Camille Hémet & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2017. "How does transportation shape intrametropolitan growth? An answer from the Regional Express Rail," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 758-780, November.
    19. Ariel Goldszmidt & John A. List & Robert D. Metcalfe & Ian Muir & V. Kerry Smith & Jenny Wang, 2020. "The Value of Time in the United States: Estimates from Nationwide Natural Field Experiments," NBER Working Papers 28208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Beaudoin, Justin & Lin Lawell, C.-Y. Cynthia, 2018. "The effects of public transit supply on the demand for automobile travel," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 447-467.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    highway widening; congestion; traffic flow; welfare effects; economic activity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R3 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location
    • R33 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Nonagricultural and Nonresidential Real Estate Markets
    • R4 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220010. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.