Traffic congestion keeps worsening, study says

June 20, 2002
Despite the introduction of proven solutions to ease traffic flow, congestion is predicted to continue growing as a national problem, according to a long-running study of traffic congestion by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). According to the study, the time penalty for making trips during "rush hour" is greater than ever, totaling 62 hours in 2000. That compares to 16 hours in 1982. The
Despite the introduction of proven solutions to ease traffic flow, congestion is predicted to continue growing as a national problem, according to a long-running study of traffic congestion by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI).

According to the study, the time penalty for making trips during "rush hour" is greater than ever, totaling 62 hours in 2000. That compares to 16 hours in 1982. The period of time that travelers might encounter traffic congestion grew to seven hours in 2000, up from 4.5 hours in 1982.

Also the percentage of streets and freeways in the nation experiencing congestion is higher than ever at 58% in 2000, compared to 34% in 1982, TTI said.

Despite wider use of an array of solutions, such as ramp metering, HOV lanes, incentives to make trips at different times and better incident management, TTI said that even if transportation officials do all those things, congestion will continue to grow.

About the Author

Sean Kilcarr | Editor in Chief

Sean reports and comments on trends affecting the many different strata of the trucking industry -- light and medium duty fleets up through over-the-road truckload, less-than-truckload, and private fleet operations Also be sure to visit Sean's blog Trucks at Work where he offers analysis on a variety of different topics inside the trucking industry.

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