ParadoxDiff: Hard

Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: The city built a new road to make driving faster, but somehow everyone's drive to work ended up taking longer than before.

Reasoning: A solution intended to decrease travel time (a new highway) resulted in the opposite outcome (increased travel time).

Analysis: We need an explanation for why more road capacity led to more time on the road. This is a classic 'induced demand' or 'unintended consequence' scenario. Look for an answer that introduces a new factor: perhaps the highway encouraged many more people to drive, or it led to people moving even further away from downtown. The right choice will explain how the new highway itself, or the public's reaction to it, created more total delay than it solved.

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17.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to explain the increase in average commute time?

Correct Answer
E
By stating that downtown roads near the new highway became more congested after it opened, (E) provides a direct bottleneck at the commuters’ destination. The highway increased inflow into downtown-adjacent streets, making average commute times longer despite the new route.
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