John Norquist, president and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, wrote a recent piece in the Atlantic Cities entitled The Case for Congestion. In it, he sensibly explains that cities must recognize that traffic and congestion are often a sign of dynamism, and by moving traffic too well, cities often drive out economic potential that “good congestion” provides. Most of all, he argues that it’s time to retire the highway in an urban context – I couldn’t agree more.

Norquist has long argued that, like good and bad cholesterol, there is such thing as good and bad congestion. He’s right, and it’s time for the rest of us to recognize that.