&gt; You just can&#x27;t direct traffic like this if your infrastructure can&#x27;t handle the load to begin with; it&#x27;s selfish beyond belief.<p>I don&#x27;t see what&#x27;s &quot;selfish&quot; about this. Different roads serve different purposes--these sorts of neighborhood streets are meant to be quiet streets shared by a variety of modes of transportation heading in various directions, freeways like the 405 are designed to accommodate large numbers of motor vehicles heading in a single direction. They are designed for these distinct purposes--they differ in their construction materials, in the number of intersections, in their safety features, and in their proximity to homes.<p>To me, the idea that we should just declare the two equivalent when traffic is sufficiently bad sounds a bit like saying that it&#x27;s selfish of pedestrians to not allow drivers to use the sidewalk at rush hour.