Abstract: Traffic congestion has a significant negative impact on the day-to-day lives of citizens and commercial enterprises. This article provides an overview of the problem of congestion, including its causes, consequences and potential solutions. The variability and unpredictability of traffic conditions affects the user's view of roadway performance and how, when and where they choose to travel. The cost of congestion for 85 major urban areas has been estimated to be $63 billion based on 3.7 billion hours of delay and 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel. The true costs of congestion, including factors such as loss of productivity and safety costs, are much higher. Some possible solutions include the strategic addition of capacity, more productive use of existing capacity through system operations and management, reducing system demand, and creating an efficient transportation market through road pricing. The U.S. Department of Transportation has created a congestion initiative to support transportation agencies in pursuing these options.
Publication Year: 2007
Publication Date: 2007-07-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 2
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