Another Government Manipulation of our Behavior

     If you drive through Fort Myers on route 41, you may experience a lot of delays.  Two of the six lanes are closed with construction barrels although, as you drive along, you will see no construction.  No cranes, no backhoes, no steam rollers.  That’ because there is no construction.  The “Florida Weekly” reported that this is an attempt to put the residents of Southwest Florida on a “road diet.”
     They are going to close one third of the road “for a couple of  months to see how drivers and pedestrians react.”  I know how the drivers are going to react.  Of course, what they are hoping for is that drivers will find other ways to get where they are going.  They will carpool, they will use all the bicycle lanes the state has put in, they will clamor for more public transportation or light rail.
     The problem is this.  Florida’s development has been based on the private automobile.  It is not like the northeast or Europe which were laid out based on people walking or riding in carriages.  Florida grew, and is growing, since the time when almost every household, if not every person, had a car.  It is spread out.  Huge neighborhoods are miles from shopping or work and commercial areas stretch for miles along major, and not so major, thoroughfares.
     Consider their solutions.  First, shared public bicycle programs.  Maybe for tourists is certain areas.  But is your average commuter going to ride a bicycle to work, pedaling for miles through the Florida heat and thunderstorms?  Is your average retiree going to give up their sports car for a bike?  Second, public transportation.  To actually replace an individual’s car, public transportation needs to be easily accessible.  One doesn’t want to walk or bike for miles to the nearest stop which means buses would need routes through all the neighborhoods and into the commercial districts.  A single route could take hours.  Even the planners acknowledge that ridership based primarily on only major routes would be weak and require taxpayer subsidy.   Finally, light rail.  That suffers from all the drawbacks of a bus line and it’s hundreds of times more expensive.
     Other than cutting down on those dangerous greenhouse gasses that cause global warming and will eventually put half of Florida underwater anyway, the state is trying to cut down on the number of expensive road widening projects.  I suppose they want to save the money to build dikes.  However, a thousand people a day move to sunny Florida and those people bring their cars.  Now, after decades of growth based on this pattern, they are going to change it with a few barrels?  After spending billions on road widening,
the state wants to eliminate those expensive extra lanes in favor of pretty medians and bike lanes?
     The solution will come without the need for government meddling.  Here’s what I think is going to happen and it is going to follow a pattern that is already established and accelerating.  Fewer people are going to use the roads because of technology.  They will work from home-telecommuting.  They will shop from home and bank from home.  As congestion becomes more and more of a problem, people will adapt their behavior to
forms less inconvenient and stressful.  As more and more workers and shoppers stay home, traffic congestion will be relived over time.  No, it will not happen overnight but it will happen without government manipulation adding to our stress and inconvenience.