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You know those massive national highways we keep building? Turns out, they may be part of the problem. Planner Erick Guerra argues in his new book Overbuilt that U.S. national roadways are oversized, expensive, and still failing to deliver smoother commutes.
Guerra points out that while the original Interstate Highway System had a clear purpose (connect states, support defense, serve rural areas), most of the funding ended up in urban and suburban zones. That’s critical for planners like you and me: when highways carve through dense places, they don’t just move traffic, they shape how cities grow.
The bigger issue? Induced demand. Add lanes, more traffic comes. Widen highways, congestion often goes up. Guerra notes that in many urban counties, every 10% increase in lane miles per capita correlates with a ~4% increase in traffic fatalities per capita. For our planning lens: more capacity isn’t always better capacity.
He suggests a shift in how we measure success. Rather than focusing on mobility (how fast cars go, how many lane-miles we build), we should think accessibility (how easily people reach where they need to go). That flips the logic.