Think of it this way: Ever since the architects and builders of the first cities started roughing out their plans on clay tablets or papyrus scrolls, they’ve faced the same kind of problem, which is that their transportation corridors, whether roads or rails, needed to be built to accommodate peak demand. By definition, therefore, during every time of the day or year when demand was below the peak, the systems had a lot of surplus capacity, what we in the trade call over-engineering. As cities grew, so did peak demand, and, for a long time, the only way to satisfy that demand was by increasing
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206. Engineers built infrastructure for peak demand. When not in peak- excess capacity. Can ITS leverage this excess to be useful? Contraflow, auto bus/HOV lanes, incentivize off-peak travel and parking?
