There is a lot of discussion about infrastructure as Congress debates the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, but we need to take a thorough look at how our country and our state invest in infrastructure. Investments should be motivated by sound policy decisions and not politics driven by self-serving industry lobbyists.

For example, let’s take a look at the proposed $1 billion Route 17 widening, promoted by the highway construction lobby and some of our elected officials. Proponents tell us it will be good for the regional economy. But ask any business owner, and they will tell you that the economic growth bottleneck in this region is the severe labor shortage, not the lack of jobs. So creating new jobs may even harm local employers competing for those same workers. And creating new jobs will lead to higher housing prices, as businesses will have to attract workers from beyond our region.

In addition, if Route 17 is widened and will allow more weekend travelers to travel faster into the Catskills, businesses along the corridor will be bypassed, and will lead to leapfrog sprawl development, namely more strip malls and parking lots in the Catskills. And all these travelers on Route 17 during peak times will put more pressure on local roads, which means more congestion in the small towns we call home and those we love to visit.

But let’s look at the problem that the widening proposal is attempting to solve... or more accurately, let’s try to find the actual problem.

According to the DOT Study, the only congestion on Route 17 is from seasonal weekend travel westbound on some Friday evenings, in a couple of isolated locations. This is what we call discretionary travel, as folks from NYC travel towards the Catskills on nice summer and fall weekends. Hate sitting in traffic? Here’s the solution: Avoid travelling westbound on Route 17 during these times. Over 99 percent of normal waking hours there is no congestion on Route 17. If you do have to travel at that time, you can often use another route. There, you’re welcome. I just saved taxpayers $1 billion. Yes, ONE BILLION DOLLARS. We simply should not be spending $1 billion to allow weekend travelers from the city to get to their country homes faster.

Unfortunately, politicians (both Republicans and Democrats) love to support highway widening projects because widening a highway seems like it should solve traffic problems. And everyone hates sitting in traffic. Unfortunately, widening does not always solve the “congestion problem” in the long-term. After decades of highway widening projects, transportation planners across the country have learned that adding a lane often increases traffic congestion due to “induced demand.” This basically means that adding a lane causes more people to use that highway at the peak time, and often travel further, resulting in the same level of congestion as before. In addition, some studies have shown that the delays caused by the construction can outweigh any benefits from the widening.

Widening Route 17 will direct state, federal, and regional funds away from more needed road and bridge repairs. And it will take more of our taxpayer money every year to keep a larger highway maintained.

With regards to safety, national highway studies show that adding lanes tends to cause more reckless driving, higher speeds, and an increase in the number of potential conflict points.

With regards to the environment, highway widening will pave over existing greenspace, and induce travelers to drive further, thus increasing greenhouse gases and other auto and truck emissions.

If we want to actually reduce congestion, there are numerous low-cost ways to achieve this by reducing and managing demand, but unfortunately, the current $5 million NYSDOT Study is not looking at any of these options, and is only looking at widening the highway and changing entry/exit ramps (Surprise! The highway construction lobbyists were the ones to successfully push for this study!).

Instead of spending $1 billion to widen a road that doesn’t need widening, we could instead invest a tiny fraction of that amount towards solutions that maximize the efficiency of our existing infrastructure, which would have a better impact on congestion and on our local economy. For example, a public campaign to get westbound travelers to travel on Thursdays or Saturdays or during the “shoulder seasons” will reduce traffic congestion on Fridays. And it will actually help tourism-related businesses like hotels and restaurants that are unable to meet extreme demands on summer/fall weekends.

As a restaurant owner, I can tell you that my strategy is not to cram in more people at 7 p.m. on Saturday nights (my chef would kill me), but instead to encourage customers to come during less-busy times, so they can enjoy a much more satisfying experience. We should manage our transportation infrastructure in the same sensible way.

Arif Khan owns and manages the Hoot Owl Restaurant in Pine Bush, and is also a strategic planning and sustainable development consultant. He has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning.