John Hennessy III,
P.E.
AMERICAN HIGHWAY USERS ALLIANCE
Severe congestion continues to stymie passenger and freight movement on many of America’s critical urban Interstates and freeways. This 2015 update to Unclogging America’s Arteries identifies the 50 worst highway bottlenecks in the U.S. and demonstrates that the cost of doing nothing is too significant to ignore.
NEC FUTURE Choices for the NEC The FRA has identified three distinct Action Alternatives for the NEC, each of which presents a different vision for the future role of passenger rail in the transportation system of the Northeast. In developing these Action Alternatives, the FRA considered a broad range of possibilities for the NEC to […]
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The tri-state area is loaded with bridges, rail systems and roadways that are suffering from years of under-investment. But perhaps the biggest risk we face is with the rail tunnel linking New Jersey and New York. Built more than a century ago, the fraying tubes that carry NJ Transit and Amtrak trains are the biggest chokepoint in the Northeast, and the source of frequent delays for commuters. For years, the tunnels have needed extended repairs that are impossible to do while keeping trains running. The situation deteriorated when the tunnels flooded with salt water during Hurricane Sandy. Amtrak officials say the tubes might not last 20 years.
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LILLY & ASSOCIATES
INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION LOGISTICS
Just a few years ago, PortMiami suffered from traffic problems that rivaled downtown Manhattan. More than 16,000 cars and trucks traverse the streets surrounding the port every day, and traffic from cargo trucks makes up more than a quarter of that figure. Prior to the tunnel project, the existing bus and vehicle routes were struggling to support the massive weight of this congestion and inhibiting further growth in the region.
These days GPS makes a transportation planner’s research effort much easier. Until now access to the data created wasn’t so easy. Watch the video to see how FHWA’s Office of Planning, Environment and Realty’s Research Program teamed with U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to access secure travel data on the web.
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RESOURCES FOR THE FUTURE
A new mechanism to reduce urban traffic congestion that is currently gaining traction for its purported cost-effectiveness, environmental-friendliness, and positive health impacts is the adoption of citywide bicycle-sharing systems. This infrastructure provides an alternative to driving for short trips and extends the existing network of public transit within a metropolitan area. Further, bicycling infrastructure augments the environmental bona fides of densely populated urban areas (Kahn, 2010). If bikeshares reduce traffic congestion, they may provide a low-cost policy lever to reduce automobile externalities in urban areas.
TEXAS A&M TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE
The national congestion recession is over. Urban areas of all sizes are experiencing the challenges seen in the early 2000s – population, jobs and therefore congestion are increasing. The U.S. economy has regained nearly all of the 9 million jobs lost during the recession and the total congestion problem is larger than the pre-recession levels.
INTERNATIONAL BRIDGE, TUNNEL AND TURNPIKE ASSOCIATION (IBTTA)
Q: Why do we need tolls to pay for roads and crossings?
A: No matter how you slice it, federal and state fuel taxes are insufficient to support America’s highway infrastructure. Tolls provide a valuable source of revenue both to build new roads and maintain existing roads.
DELOITTE UNIVERSITY PRESS
For decades, governments have tried in vain to develop solutions to address congestion. High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and costly public transportation networks may have slowed the growth of congestion, but commute times continue to lengthen in America’s urban centers. Estimates suggest that only 15 percent in congestion savings can be achieved even with widespread deployment of such conventional measures to all major freeways…Clearly, a new approach is needed.
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