Read Tom Vanderbilt's chapter on L.A. in Traffic to see what I mean. It's mind boggling how well they've timed the lights there, but you wouldn't know it. Why? Because all that awesome throughput capacity (computer optimized, centrally manipulated in real time!) in L.A. is full. Increase capacity, and even more cars will appear. You can't win.

It's called induced demand, and it's why we need trains. Preferably elevated ones. Fast, elevated trains, with wi-fi. And maybe a drink cart. Why not?

My biggest complaint about Chicago is that it tends to be like a black hole – it takes forever to actually get out of the city. You guys can be hiking or skiing in an hour or so. An hour of driving in Chicago gets me pretty much nowhere, unless it’s the middle of the night and no one else is on the road.

But, I’m definitely laughing at the picture of someone sitting in random Sunday morning traffic on the Eisenhower, saying “Gee, aren’t we lucky we have good public transit” instead of something like “Goddamnit! Where the hell are all these people going”.