There is only one major road, Freeway Z, that links County X and Count

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Since construction of new roads between County X and County Y is severely restricted, this argument claims that building a commuter train between the counties is a more cost-effective way to reduce congestion on Freeway Z than expanding the existing freeway or building a new one. This plan will work only if people currently driving on the freeway are likely to use the new commuter train. If the congestion is caused largely by people driving between the two counties, then some of these people would likely choose to use the train instead, decreasing traffic congestion on the freeway.

(A) The cost associated with funding necessary mass transit in both counties, in addition to the expense of the tunnel itself, is an argument against, not for, the proposed commuter train tunnel.

(B) This plan addresses a very specific situation: traffic between two counties on a certain freeway. Information about the nation’s freeways in general is not relevant to this argument.

(C) CORRECT. This statement shows that a majority of the cars on Freeway Z are driven by commuters. Commuters are more likely than other groups to use the proposed train tunnel; if so, fewer cars would travel on the freeway, and traffic congestion would decrease.

(D) This plan addresses a very specific situation: traffic between two counties on a certain freeway. New freeways that are being built elsewhere are not relevant to this argument. Even if this information were relevant to this situation, it would be an argument against the proposed commuter train tunnel, indicating that new freeway construction is necessary despite the existence of commuter trains.

(E) The information that Freeway Z is congested largely because of transcontinental shipments in commercial trucks, rather than commuters between the two counties, is an argument against the proposed commuter train tunnel. A large proportion of the vehicles on Freeway Z are commercial trucks, which will still travel that route even if the commuter train tunnel is built, so traffic congestion will be largely unaffected.

We are looking for something that will support the plan to build a train track.

NOT RELEVANT A. An effective commuter train tunnel between the counties would require major investment in mass transit within both counties.
NOT RELEVANT B. The majority of all vehicles on the nation’s freeways are traveling from one state to another.
This shows that at least 60% of the commuters everyday are dailing commuters and there is a possibility that these people will ride the train. C. 60% of the cars on Freeway Z are driven by people who live in County Y and work in County X.
Again, not relevant D. Many new freeways are being built in areas that are presently served by commuter trains.
No connection to the question E. A large proportion of the vehicles on Freeway Z are commercial trucks carrying transcontinental shipments.

basically C states the proportion 60% on the road are most frequent travelers as they have their job in other state hence they will for sure commute the maximum and hence this lays stress on the conclusion that the number of cars clogging will be reduced.

hence C is the best choice over here.

HTH

I think this is where the problem lies. In some CR questions you really have to twist your mind out of the way to come up with an answer. In this case, although a lot of you say E is "irrelevant", I don't think it is irrelevant. It might not be a strong contender. I don't know if many of you are aware of the concept of Goods Trains. If a large proportion of the vehicles on the highway are trucks trucks carrying those shipments then it would definitely benefit to take those trucks off the roads and put the shipments they carry on the trains thereby getting rid of the large proportion of traffic. If C wasn't mentioned E would have been the answer.

Option C is the correct answer but I am really struggling to accept this. Option C says "60% of the Cars on the Freeway....." The freeway could have had cars, trucks, buses..etc. Out of which only 60% of the cars are mentioned in this choice. Also the total number of cars could be as low as 2 or 3 cars as opposed to 2000 or 3000 trucks and buses.
So shouldn't I eliminate C?

- Rich@EmpowerGMAT

what needs to be strengthened here?
it is: building tunnel would reduce cost & traffic congestion

A: weakens rather
B: not relevant, neither strengthens nor weakens
C: makes sense; BEST CHOICE
D: not relevant
E: not relevant

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