HOT NETWORKS: A NEW PLAN FOR CONGESTION RELIEF AND BETTER TRANSIT

Abstract

This chapter describes how urban traffic congestion remains one of America’s biggest problems, despite decades of efforts by federal, state, and local governments to address it. In 2001, according to the most recent annual Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), American motorists in the largest seventy-five urban areas lost $69.5 billion in wasted time (3.5 billion hours of delay) and fuel (5.7 billion extra gallons) due to traffic congestion. This was an all-time high for the nearly two decades during which TTI has been measuring the extent of congestion. The average annual amount of time an urban motorist lost because of traffic congestion during peak hours grew from seven hours in 1982 to twenty-six hours in 2001. One reason for the increase in congestion is that driving increased far more than road capacity over the past three decades. Federal, state, and metro-area governments have focused considerable efforts and funding over the past two decades on providing commuters with alternatives to driving alone. The two principal thrusts were to invest significant sums on (1) adding High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to urban freeways; and (2) expanding transit systems, especially by adding new rail systems. This chapter focuses primarily on the ten most congested urban areas in the country.

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