US congestion issue unveiled by FHWA

The latest data from the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reveals that traffic congestion is worsening.
June 15, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
RSS

The latest data from the 2364 US Department of Transportation’s 2410 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) reveals that traffic congestion is worsening. The research shows that congestion is outpacing system improvements gained from investments in gridlock reduction strategies. Work such as road widening, better intermodal connections and traffic and demand management technologies are not having sufficient benefit. The result is that congestion is getting worse across the US and particularly at peak travel periods.

The FHWA’s 2016 Urban Congestion Trends report is based on data from America’s 52 most populous metropolitan areas. This shows that the average congestion worsened, with drivers spending an additional three minutes stuck in traffic compared to 2015. Some areas did see traffic improvements but these were outweighed by those that areas with worsening congestion and longer journey times.

Congestion got worse during peak hours in 2016, as represented by the Travel Time Index which compares peak hour or commuter travel times to free flow travel times. The index increased slightly to 1.35 in 2016 from 1.34 in 2015, meaning that a trip taking 10 minutes in free-flow traffic would now take 13.5 minutes during peak hours.
Other measures in the report showed a slight improvement, including the Planning Time Index which went from 2.65 in 2015 to 2.62 in 2016.  The Planning Time Index indicates how long a traveller should plan for a trip to ensure an on-time arrival – the worse the traffic, the larger the score.

American cities depend on efficiently moving traffic, and the new data shows the need to invest in technology.

Highway & Network Management

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

August 19, 2015

US road crashes increasing for 2015?

There is mounting concern in the US at the high number of crashes during 2015. For the first seven months of 2015, there has been a 14% increase in the number of traffic fatalities compared with the same period in 2014. The data shows that there were 18,630 road deaths in this period, with over 2.2 million serious injuries. This is a notable increase and should the trend continue it will mean that 2015 will have had the highest rate of road deaths since 2007. The cause (or causes) of the increase in road de
February 23, 2016

Increase in distances driven in the US

Drivers in the US have set a new record for total distance travelled. New data released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) show that US driving reached 5.0368 trillion km (3.148 trillion miles) by the end of 2015, beating the previous record of 4.8048 trillion km (3.003 trillion miles) in 2007.
May 23, 2012

US traffic congestion drops

Inrix, a leading international provider of traffic information and intelligent driver services, has released its fifth Annual Inrix Traffic Scorecard revealing a startling 30% drop in traffic congestion in the US in 2011. In the report, which also scores Europe, 70 of America’s top 100 most populated cities showed decreases in traffic congestion last year. The report concludes these results are indicative of a ‘stop-’n’-go economy’ where lack of employment combined with high fuel prices is keeping Americans
boombox1

Highlighted Content

boombox2