Why Do Big Cities Have Traffic Congestion?

Perhaps you already know. Common sense would suggest it’s because cities have lots of intersections and their streets aren’t as wide as freeways. Most blocks can only accommodate 10–15 cars at a stoplight before traffic gets backed up. If these cars are like most — single person car drivers — you don’t actually need that many cars to clog up a street. For San Francisco, a city with 800,000+ people, just a couple hundred cars is enough to clog 101 and 80 leading up to the Bay Bridge. Without fail, every day of the week, the northbound 101 sees congestion leading up to the bridge. By comparison, 280 rarely sees as much traffic as 101 and 80, and in the pre-pandemic days, most of its congestion was from diverted traffic attempting to beat rush hour on 280 (I speak from personal experience ). <a href="https://medium.com/city-life/why-do-big-cities-have-traffic-congestion-30543e4788a0">Visit Now</a>