Spokeperson: Although the highway that circles the downtown

Question

Spokeperson: Although the highway that circles the downtown region of the city is carriyng twice as much traffic as was originally anticipated, congestion is not a problem for most of its users. Upwards of half a million vehicles a day use the road, and for 90 percent of the time they do so without delays.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion reached by the spokeperson?

A) Highway usage is projected to double again within the next 5 years
B) The high usage rates for the highway have led to a need for twice as many repairs than were originally planned
C) The highway is mainly used be commuters during the limited time span of the morning and evening rush hours, when delays are very common.
D) The highway recieves traffic from several other roads and highways
E) The highway's design forces both drivers who wish to travel to and those who wish to avoid downtown to travel on it for at least part of their journey

HowManyToGo · Answer

Picked D.

If there is traffic from other roads and hightways, they can still be delayed in the downtown hightway, but not during their entire trip, especially if they can make up for the delay on subsequent of prior parts of the journey.

HMTG.

HIMALAYA · Answer

E) The highway's design forces both drivers who wish to travel to and those who wish to avoid downtown to travel on it for at least part of their journey

E clearly says that congestion is a problem in the highway therefore people avoide to drive on it..

Dilshod · Answer

Think again. I wouldn't have posted this CR if it had been that easy

Darth_McDaddy · Answer

The answer is very clearly C

If most commuters used the highway during the morning and evening rush hours, and scarcely used the highway during other times of the day, then congestion is a problem for most of the users, as there are fewer users who use the highway during off-peak hours.

The answer choice was extremely easy, because if you were to live near the Boston region, like me, you will experience rush hour traffic and thus undertstand this argument perfectly. :wink:

HowManyToGo · Answer

How does the statement "and for 90 percent of the time they do so without delays " fit into your scheme of things.

HMTG.

Dilshod · Answer

HowManyToGo 
I agree with you. The author clearly says, that drivers don't experience any congestion 90% of time they use the road. It is clear, from that statement that there is INDEED no traffic congestion problem with the highway? Therefore, (C) has nothing to do with the argument. 
In order to  Darth_McDaddy 's answer be correct, "90% of the time DRIVERS do so without delay" should be substituted for "90% of the time the HIGHWAY is delay-free".


BTW, the question is from Kaplan.

Darth_McDaddy · Answer

It fits perfectly. Even though the drivers can use the highway during anytime they want, what if most of the driving is done during the peak hours of traffic. So if they use the highway during the non-peak hours, then 90% of the time they won't face any traffic. But if most of the users use the highway the 10% of the time the highway is really congested, then all these highway users will suffer from traffic congestions. This will direclty contradict the spokesperson's claim that "congestion is not a problem for most of its users. "

I hope my explanation helps.

Dilshod · Answer

Nope, it doesn't:)

The author says nothing about periods of the day. He just said that 0.5mln vehicles use the road, and 90 percent of time they use the road they don't suffer delays.

keirin79 · Answer

90% in this case should be understood as 90% of the time - out of a whole day, people don't experience delays, but 10% of the time - the traffic hours during the morning and the evening periods, people suffer from traffic delays. I agree that the meaning is a bit vague, and unclear. But that's how I interpreted it, hence the choice C.

For each commuter who uses the road everyday, it'd be 90% of the time that they DO experience the traffic, but as for any general user at any given time of the day, which I think the spokesperson meant, 90% of the time (all except for a few periods in the morning, and the evening) they don't experience the traffic.

HowManyToGo · Answer

Can someone please post the OE for this CR.

HMTG.

Dilshod · Answer

Agree with you, but only in the terms that "90% of the time DRIVERS do so without delay" is substituted for "90% of the time the HIGHWAY is delay-free"

P.S.: I showed this questioon to my tutor and mates, and all of them found it to be vague and ambiguous.

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Spokeperson: Although the highway that circles the downtown

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