The Planners' Truth, at Last

David Owen, a New Yorker writer and author of a new book, Green Metropolis, finally reveals the truth behind planners' antipathy to new roads and their support of traffic" calming" devices (narrow streets, roundabouts, speed bump, and other obstacles to driving). The goal is to make drivers so angry they will stop driving. He writes in the Wall Street Journal:

Traffic jams, if they're managed well, can actually be good for the environment. They maintain a level of frustration that turns drivers into subway riders or pedestrians.