Critical Reasoning

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

OA l8r...do explain your logic!

A
since most people want the highways to be free of congestion and thats why they support the railroad expansion, it is very likely that after the expansion they would want to use the highways. Since all most of them still don't use the railroad, the goal is not achieved

geet wrote: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

OA l8r...do explain your logic!

IMO A for reasons explained above. Nice question though.

Hello Guys,
I am opening this thread again.
I want to know why is D wrong.

D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of miles of new railbed and this would certainly increase the congestion.

Please tell me where am I missing?

gmat740 wrote:Hello Guys,
I am opening this thread again.
I want to know why is D wrong.

D. expanding the commuter rail system will require the construction of dozens of miles of new railbed and this would certainly increase the congestion.

Please tell me where am I missing?

Why would construction of rail beds increase congestion on roads ? We are not told anywhere that laying new railway tracks would be done by hampering the existing roads.

I believe the answer should be A