Text 1
For decades, transportation policy followed a simple rule. If a highway corridor was congested, add lanes and traffic would ease. Early postwar projects seemed to confirm this view, with new pavement delivering smoother flow and shorter trips. The apparent success fostered confidence that congestion falls in predictable stages as capacity increases, a belief that guided many large road programs. Yet chronic delays persisted in growing metro areas, prompting recurring debates over whether the old recipe still captures how drivers and networks actually behave.
Text 2
In a recent synthesis, transportation researchers Maria Chen and Raul Ortega argue that travel adapts quickly to fresh capacity. Using sensor data, toll records, and long panel studies, they report that added lanes often attract new trips, rerouted drivers, and longer distances within a few years. Some corridors show brief relief followed by a rebound to familiar delays. The authors conclude that the relationship between capacity and congestion is not one direction, and that under common conditions the extra space restores queues rather than eliminating them.
Based on the texts, how would Chen and Ortega (Text 2) most likely respond to the "conventional wisdom" discussed in Text 1?
