> Current knowledge says that "on average, a 10 percent increase in lane miles induces an immediate 4 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled, which climbs to 10 percent – the entire new capacity – in a few years."
There is an obvious confounder here, which is that anywhere they add lane capacity is going to be a place undergoing growth, which is why they felt the need to add lane capacity. But if the growth the continues, the new lane capacity once again becomes insufficient at some future point.
I would expect to see the same pattern with electrical transmission capacity. Where they add more capacity, you then see an increase in consumption. Which is to be expected, because why else would they add the capacity?
The difference with roads is that they don't catch fire if you want until after you're over-capacity before expanding them, which makes it more likely that the demand will consume all of the new capacity, since you're starting off from the point of already being underwater.
There is an obvious confounder here, which is that anywhere they add lane capacity is going to be a place undergoing growth, which is why they felt the need to add lane capacity. But if the growth the continues, the new lane capacity once again becomes insufficient at some future point.
I would expect to see the same pattern with electrical transmission capacity. Where they add more capacity, you then see an increase in consumption. Which is to be expected, because why else would they add the capacity?
The difference with roads is that they don't catch fire if you want until after you're over-capacity before expanding them, which makes it more likely that the demand will consume all of the new capacity, since you're starting off from the point of already being underwater.