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The Post reports news that won’t surprise much of anyone around these parts — only Chicago can match the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region when it comes to the worst traffic in the country. According to a study by the Texas Transportation Institute, Washington-area residents spend nearly 70 hours a year stuck in traffic, above even Los Angelinos’ average of 63 hours. Not only are we more likely to get stuck in traffic, but we’re also way more likely to turned into uncontrollable masses of rage over it too.

No shock there, right? What is shocking is that the same people who conducted the study also concluded that the best solution was — you guessed it — more roads. The Post quoted researcher Tim Lomax, who argued, “Clearly, in any growing area – and D.C. has continued to grow – you need to build more capacity. You can do little things like stagger work hours, fix traffic-light timing and clear wrecks faster, but in the end, there’s a need for more capacity.”

Beyond the sheer inanity of such a proposal — more capacity begets more cars, which begets the need for yet more capacity — the Post’s article again highlights a disturbing trend in local journalism when it comes to traffic and transit stories. Greater Greater Washington termed it “Entitled Driving Journalist Syndrome,” by which basically any story on traffic or transit is boiled down to the need to have wider, smoother and faster roads. That’s accomplished by seeking out the easiest and most quotable folks around — AAA. But AAA isn’t just an organization that send a tow-truck out when you most need it, but rather a well-funded and well-connected vehicle lobby. Of course, AAA will say the D.C. area needs more roads; the same goes for Lomax, for whom the quickest and most obvious solution to traffic is bigger roads.

Thankfully, most local officials in Maryland, Virginia and the District understand that more and bigger roads are simply not a workable or sustainable alternative to our region’s traffic woes. (Which makes the news of the Republican hope to cut $150 million in Metro funding very sad and very scary.) To the Post’s credit, it did quote the president of the American Public Transportation Association, but only in the article’s final paragraph. Looking forward to the next inevitable article on our region’s traffic, perhaps the newspaper could start thinking a little more broadly about the problem — and more consistently quote people that understand how to address the issue, not merely dodge it for another year or two.