Bill 212, the Reducing…

Bill 212, the Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act, 2024 – Building Highways Faster Act, is just another attempt to fix traffic by doing exactly what doesn't work: building more highways. The fact that the policy seems to ignore the well-known issue of induced demand—where adding lanes only leads to more cars, more congestion, and the same problems this bill supposedly wants to solve—makes you wonder if anyone actually read the research on this.

It’s like they’re stuck in some outdated mindset, refusing to learn from years of evidence that shows that car-first infrastructure doesn’t fix the problem, it just makes it worse. Instead of investing in real solutions, like better public transit, encouraging cycling, and making our cities more walkable, they go for the quick and easy option of throwing taxpayer money at yet more roads.

And the whole idea of “building faster” probably just means less oversight, less environmental review, and cutting corners. We should be planning for cities that are sustainable and resilient, not dumping resources into projects that’ll just make air quality worse, contribute to climate change, and keep us locked in a car-dependent loop.

This bill is nothing but a handout to the same old car-centric status quo. It's not about reducing gridlock—it's about making sure we stay stuck in the past. We need leaders who aren’t afraid to push for real, evidence-based urban planning, not more temporary fixes that’ll leave us exactly where we started, if not worse.