Charlottesville, Virginia, spent most of a decade revising its zoning code.
It held endless community meetings.
It gave opponents ample opportunity to make their case.
They lost.
But a handful of rich homeowners sued and have gotten the new Charlottesville zoning code overturned on a technicality
https://communityengagement.substack.com/p/june-30-2025-judge-worrell-voids?r=blgf
9 millionaire homeowners, who couldn’t persuade Charlottesville residents and couldn’t win at the ballot box, decided they would throw everything they had to nullify their defeat.
And it worked
You don’t need to widen roads for that. In fact, it might be the worst option due to induced demand. For the curious, see:
More Lanes are (Still) a Bad Thing
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=CHZwOAIect4
https://youtu.be/CHZwOAIect4
The quote specifically mentions “widen any roads”. I haven’t read Charlottesville plans, but it could have included other options like public transport and bike infrastructure.
Induced demand is also known as latent demand. If your roads are so shit people just stay home, that’s not a good thing.
Here’s a short paper from Texas A&M university on the subject. More lanes reduces congestion. Follow the citations if you’re interested.
https://mobility.tamu.edu/mip/strategies-pdfs/added-capacity/technical-summary/adding-new-lanes-or-roads-4-pg.pdf
I think you’re misrepresenting that a little. It’s not peer reviewed, doesn’t appear to have any researchers names attached at all, doesn’t mention latent demand, and doesn’t at any point consider that there could be other modes of transport. It reads to me like someone trying to sell their road building project.
have a look at their post history, they’re clearly not here in good faith.
I literally have citations. The only reason you think I’m in bad faith is you disagree with me.
A white paper from a civil engineering arm of a university closely associated with TX DOT citing MDOT?
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” - Upton Sinclair