Quote:
Originally Posted by Citylover94
Elevated highways are not a good or useful thing for a city.
The only way to prevent congestion in a major city is to use congestion pricing
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Well, since we're talking about Tokyo, look at the expressways there. The city has a complete web of expressways running in every major direction, and the city actually built their equivalent of the Lower Manhattan Expressway and Mid-Manhattan Expressway running through heavily built-up areas.
The difference is, those highways are tolled heavily. All of them. Currently a standard size vehicle toll is $11.50, which is double what the tunnels in NY cost. Gas is double the price, too, and parking is scarce. It's just not cost-effective for commuting unless you're very wealthy.
However, the highways are still very important for goods movement. The high prices in New York shops and bodegas reflect the high cost that suppliers charge, which in turn reflects the countless hours that delivery drivers waste sitting in traffic. I'm sure plenty of NY businesses would gladly pay an extra $5-6 in tolls on each trip if it saves them an hour of the driver's time.