New study says U.S. congestion patterns showing slight improvement

COLLEGE STATION, Texas—While it hardly comes as a surprise, research from the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) released this week indicates traffic congestion remains a major problem in the United States.

The TTI’s 2009 Urban Mobility Report—which focuses on data through 2007—states congestion has gotten worse in the country’s 439 urban areas and caused urban Americans to travel 4.2 billion hours more and purchase an extra 2.8 billion gallons of fuel compared to the previous decade totaling $87.2 billion in congestion costs (more than $750 for every U.S. traveler).

But the news is not all bad. On a year-over-year basis from 2006 to 2007, U.S. travelers spent an hour less in peak traffic delays per year, dropping from 37 hours to 36 hours. And they wasted one less gallon of gasoline per traveler during peak traffic delays per year, dropping from 25 gallons to 24 gallons. On a cumulative basis, total travel delays nationally for all travelers declined from 4.2 billion hours in 2006 to 4.16 billion hours in 2007, and the amount of wasted fuel dipped from 2.85 billion hours in 2006 to 2.81 billion gallons in 2007.

Even though some of these findings are encouraging, the report stresses that congestion remains a major problem. In order to address this issue head-on, the report recommends various steps and measures, including:

·        getting as much service as possible from what we already have;

·        changing usage patterns to avoid traveling during traditional “rush hours”; and

·        providing more options, including different routes, travel modes, or lanes that involve a toll for high-speed and reliable service.

The recommendation that likely resonates most with shippers and transportation and logistics service providers is to add capacity in critical corridors. TTI said that having greater freight or person travel on freeways, streets, rail lines, buses, or intermodal facilities often requires ‘more,’ adding that important corridors or growth regions can benefit from more road lanes, new streets and highways, and rail fleets, among others.  

In an interview with LM, Tim Lomax, a research engineer at TTI and one of the report’s authors, said that truck delays account for roughly one quarter of the $87.2 billion in congestion costs.

“This is a significant problem that will get worse faster than regular traffic delays if the projected rates of freight growth are correct,” he said. “We don’t think there is one ideal approach. The best approach is to do everything that works in each situation. Our study strongly suggests that not enough has been done in the past. In growing regions, more capacity—both roads and transit—are probably also part of the solution.”

And with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act starting to work its way to states for transportation infrastructure projects, Lomax said these efforts are likely to have a positive effect, with now being an excellent time to add capacity. He also noted that construction prices are cheaper than in the past, and our growing cities and regions need more capacity in the future to handle the new jobs and people and the freight shipments to supply them.

A solutions-based approach: Giving people more options to combat congestion is a major takeaway of this report, according to James Corless, director of transportation of Transportation for America, a coalition of national, state and local organizations calling for the renewal of a national transportation program for the 21st century.

“If traffic is shaved off of peak hours even just a little bit, it results in a pretty significant reduction in congestion,” said Corless. “That is important for shippers, because they need goods transported and trucks and trains moving. Shipments need to get to their destinations in a timely manner, and more is also needed is needed on the freight side in terms of rail capacity, especially in metro areas and near ports in terms of better managing traffic and giving travelers more options to get out of traffic.”

Corless also said that being smarter about removing congestion is key, coupled with more investment into the transportation system. He cautioned, though, that more capacity is needed in certain corridors, but this is not a situation that can be accomplished by simply adding more capacity.

One approach he thinks may work long-term is to transition out of the federal motor fuel tax—which has not been raised since 1993—to congestion pricing in the form of a vehicle miles traveled or time-of-day charges that could shave more time off of peak traffic congestion and get traffic flowing more smoothly. Revenue from these taxes could then be re-invested back into the country’s transportation system, added Corless.

 

 

Source: Logistics Management