Today’s focus is on Todd Litman’s analysis of congestion costs and how this analysis can be used to select the most effective way of reducing congestion. The traditional way of doing this is by road expansion but this compares poorly with improving mobility from public transit, for example. Congestion pricing is seen as the optimum in theory but its cost effectiveness is a function of other factors.
Key Quotes:
“This study develops a more comprehensive congestion costing framework which is used to evaluate four congestion reduction strategies: roadway expansion, improvements to alternative modes, pricing reforms and smart growth land use policies.”
“Residents of compact, multi-modal urban neighborhoods tend to drive significantly (typically 20-60%) less than residents of automobile-oriented suburban neighborhoods, which reduces regional traffic congestion, accidents and pollution emissions”
“if congestion is considered a problem at a school or other activity center, a common response is to expand local roadways, which is considered a roadway improvement, although wider roads and higher vehicle traffic speeds create a barrier to walking”
“high quality public transit can reduce congestion costs. This does not mean that cities with high quality transit lack congestion. In fact, congestion tends to be particularly intense in these cities, but people in these cities drive fewer peak period miles and so experience fewer annual hours of congestion delay”
“Congestion pricing is theoretically the most cost-effective way to reduce congestion problems, that is, it can achieve a given congestion reduction at the lowest total cost to motorists”
“Chronic traffic congestion can be considered a symptom of more fundamental transport system problems, such as inadequate mobility options that force people to drive for every trip, and dispersed land use patterns that increase travel distances”
Related articles
- Does Building More Roads Cure or Cause More Congestion? (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
- Navigating Australian Traffic Congestion Just Got Easier (prweb.com)
- Annual Study on Nationwide Traffic Congestion to be Released January 20 (prweb.com)
- Beijing Plans Congestion Fees to Ease Traffic (scientificamerican.com)
- Managing Traffic Congestion in Melbourne, Australia (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
- Managing Traffic Congestion with Rewards (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
- Beijing plans congestion fees to ease traffic (guardian.co.uk)
- The Politics of Congestion Pricing (pollutionfree.wordpress.com)
- "Carmageddon" and the Persistence of Traffic Congestion [The Pump Handle] (scienceblogs.com)
- Mayor urged to tackle London's congested roads (bbc.co.uk)
- Mayor urged to tackle congestion (bbc.co.uk)
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