hard · Enhanced ACT reading

Social Science. Passage:

"Economists once treated traffic congestion as a simple coordination failure: too many drivers choosing the same road at the same hour. The proposed cure was equally simple—add capacity. Yet the historical record is unkind to this logic. When a metropolitan region widens a highway, travel times fall briefly and then, within a few years, return almost exactly to their former level, now with more vehicles moving than before. The phenomenon, which transportation researchers call 'induced demand,' is not a quirk. It is the predictable result of a latent pool of trips that were never taken precisely because the road was congested. Reduce the cost of driving and that pool empties onto the new lanes. The widened road does not fail to relieve congestion despite being used; it fails to relieve congestion because it is used."

The author would most likely regard a city official who argues that recurring congestion on a newly widened highway proves the project was poorly engineered as:

mistaken, because the return of congestion reflects newly generated trips rather than any flaw in the road's construction.
correct, because a well-engineered expansion should permanently lower travel times for the existing volume of drivers.
partially right, since induced demand can be eliminated by engineering additional capacity in advance of projected growth.
misguided, because congestion is fundamentally a coordination failure that no amount of added road capacity can address.

The author would most likely regard a city official who argues that recurring congestion on a newly widened highway proves the project was poorly engineered as:

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