Question 225·Hard·Transitions
In recent years, urban planners have praised “complete streets” policies, which require roadways to accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit as well as cars. Early studies of cities adopting the policies report modest declines in traffic injuries. ______ the policies’ impact on overall travel behavior—how often residents choose to drive versus walk or cycle—has proved more difficult to quantify, and some researchers caution that mode share changes may take decades to appear.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For transition questions, first ignore the answer choices and decide how the ideas on either side of the blank relate: support, contrast, cause/effect, example, time, or sequence. Then quickly label each option by its relationship type and eliminate any whose type doesn’t match. Finally, read the remaining choice(s) in the sentence to check that the tone and logic are smooth and consistent with the passage.
Hints
Compare the two parts of the sentence
Ask yourself: does the second part of the sentence support, repeat, or complicate the good news about modest declines in traffic injuries?
Decide what kind of link is needed
Think about whether the sentence needs to show a result, a similar example, a time relationship, or a contrast/complication between the ideas.
Match options to relationship types
Label each answer choice as cause/effect, similarity, time, or contrast. Then pick the one whose type matches the relationship you found between the two parts of the sentence.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the relationship between the ideas
Read the sentences together, ignoring the blank:
Early studies of cities adopting the policies report modest declines in traffic injuries. ___ the policies’ impact on overall travel behavior … has proved more difficult to quantify, and some researchers caution that mode share changes may take decades to appear.
The first part is a modest positive outcome (fewer injuries). The second part introduces a difficulty and a warning (impact on behavior is hard to measure and may be slow). That is a shift from a benefit to a limitation.
Classify each transition type
Identify what kind of connection each option normally shows:
- Therefore, → result or conclusion (cause and effect)
- Similarly, → adds a point that is alike or parallel
- Meanwhile, → indicates something happening at the same time
- One option is a contrast word, used when the second idea goes against or complicates the first.
Match the relationship to the transition type
The passage is not saying that the difficulty in measuring behavior is a result of the injury declines, nor that it is similar to them, nor that it is just happening at the same time.
Instead, the writer is qualifying the earlier good news: yes, there are modest injury declines, but there is also a challenge in measuring broader behavior change. That is a contrasting or qualifying relationship.
Choose the contrast transition
Because the sentence needs a word that signals contrast or qualification between the modest positive result and the difficulty/limitation that follows, the best choice is “However,”.