A recent poll found that over 80 percent of the residents of Nalmed Province favored a
massive expansion of the commuter rail system as a means of significantly easing
congestion on the province's highways and were willing to help pay for the expansion
through an increase in their taxes. Nevertheless, the poll results indicate that expansion
of the rail system, if successfully completed, would be unlikely to achieve its goal of
easing congestion, because _______.


A. most people in favor of expanding the rail system reported less congestion during
their highway commute as the primary benefit they would experience
B. of the less than 20 percent of residents not counted as favoring the expansion,
about half claimed to have no opinion one way or the other
C. the twice-daily periods of peak congestion caused by people commuting in cars
have grown from about an hour each to almost two and a half hours each in the
past 20 years
D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of
miles of new railbed
E. the proposed expansion to the commuter rail system will make it possible for
some people who both live and work at suburban locations to commute by rail