- Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:01 am
#26700
Complete question explanation
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (E)
The paradox here is that the city built a highway linking suburban areas to downtown specifically to relieve traffic congestion, but now the average commute time for workers in the downtown area has increased.
Right away we can flag that the stimulus is actually talking about two separate sources of traffic - first, the traffic between the suburbs and downtown, and second, the traffic within the downtown area. We are likely looking for an answer choice that uses this fact to explain the seeming discrepency.
Answer choice (A) - assuming this is true, it still doesn't explain why traffic increased, since these commuters now have a highway system to get them from the suburbs to downtown
Answer choice (B) - similar to (A) - this supports the idea that people are using the highway, which should have reduced traffic
Answer choice (C) - we don't know what effect new stoplights would have, but more importantly this is talking about suburban roads, while the stimulus states that traffic for the downtown workers commute has increased - so this doesn't help
Answer choice (D) - we don't know whether this road repair is done or if it impeded traffic, and similar to (C), this has to do with roads leading to downtown, it doesn't explain why there's more traffic within downtown
Answer choice (E) - This is the correct answer - it specifically states that traffic became more congested within roads on the downtown area, explaining how workers commuting within downtown now have longer commute times post-highway, even though that same highway reduced commute times for suburban commuters coming into downtown
Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (E)
The paradox here is that the city built a highway linking suburban areas to downtown specifically to relieve traffic congestion, but now the average commute time for workers in the downtown area has increased.
Right away we can flag that the stimulus is actually talking about two separate sources of traffic - first, the traffic between the suburbs and downtown, and second, the traffic within the downtown area. We are likely looking for an answer choice that uses this fact to explain the seeming discrepency.
Answer choice (A) - assuming this is true, it still doesn't explain why traffic increased, since these commuters now have a highway system to get them from the suburbs to downtown
Answer choice (B) - similar to (A) - this supports the idea that people are using the highway, which should have reduced traffic
Answer choice (C) - we don't know what effect new stoplights would have, but more importantly this is talking about suburban roads, while the stimulus states that traffic for the downtown workers commute has increased - so this doesn't help
Answer choice (D) - we don't know whether this road repair is done or if it impeded traffic, and similar to (C), this has to do with roads leading to downtown, it doesn't explain why there's more traffic within downtown
Answer choice (E) - This is the correct answer - it specifically states that traffic became more congested within roads on the downtown area, explaining how workers commuting within downtown now have longer commute times post-highway, even though that same highway reduced commute times for suburban commuters coming into downtown