Brandon Donnelly recently wrote a piece about tunnels as a possible solution to congestion. An aspect of the debate that is often overlooked and affects greatly well being is to enable the population to live closer where they work, so they can walk or bike easily. Less commute time = less stress = better quality of life.
Not to say that this is feasible or even desirable for everyone but it's definitely something to think about. I've been consciously driving less and less and replacing my car trips with alternatives (motorcycle, transit, bicycle and walking) and I find life a lot less stressful that way even though I have to spend a little more time planning moving around. The friction that a personal vehicle removes (time saved) comes at the expense of other things.
I think the debate should not be car versus transit or even sprawl versus dense urban cores, but really about how to build cities that offer a variety of lifestyle options and mobility options. Diversity of choice is what makes cities attractive to a large swath of the population and creates a draw.
Toronto has very few lifestyle options and outside of the core even fewer efficient mobility options. It makes living in it quite challenging at times. I've just spent a week in NYC and the number of viable mobility and lifestyle options is staggering, all within a relatively small territory. Not to suggest that it's perfect but the variety is tremendous.
Redundancy makes a system robust.
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