Actually, this is a rather interesting post from some conservative blogger that outlines why traffic congestion is (politically) in lefties best-interests. It's sort of in the same way that privatized SS is in righties best interest.

As the Smart Growth advocates block new road construction and succeed in making new suburban development prohibitively expensive, the cost of closer-in housing spirals, the urban poor lose all hope of escaping the inner city ghetto, and middle class people find themselves crammed into high rise hives.

I actually think if you're a conservative or libertarian and you're mad at Demo-controlled urban planning, you kinda of have yourself to blame. The Right long ago ceded debating ground to the left on status of public works because, well, public works are a form of "big government." For proof, check out the CA GOP's harumphing over Arnold and the Dems proposed 50 billion infrastructure bond. The conservative doctrine is to rail against federal this or that. Fine. But even when federalism manages to allow road construction to end up at the state and local level, conservatism still demands that Righties rail against it simply because it belongs to government. In short, the line is *never* drawn, and the end result is that conservatives take themselves out of transportation debates ENTIRELY. The only people left arguing (see: LA) are Dems, Socialists, and Arch-Greens. In the end, we all lose; we get crappy public transit, pot-holed roads, and *more* people driving SUVs. Argh!!!!