ABSTRACT

This chapter argues that critically engaging traffic engineering-as both a discursive and spatial practice-can provide an important perspective on the politics of mobility, contributing to transportation and mobilities scholarship alike. It draws on qualitative analysis of official project documents, video and audio recordings and personal notes from public meetings on the project, and 16 semi-structured interviews with key engineers, planners, politicians, and activists. Henderson explores the application of Level of Service (LOS) to urban intersections; however, it is also commonly applied to freeways, which is the central concern of the chapter. It argues that the interpretation and representation of tools such as LOS/LOS analysis are themselves also active sites of struggle in the politics of mobility. In contrast, essentially the opposite occurred for bike path advocates, whose bias toward alternative mobility visions was highlighted through the process drawn out and exposed as 'personal judgment'- and therefore excluded from producing knowledge.