Once again the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) published its annual Urban Mobility Report (UMR), and once again I feel obliged to warn planners that it is based on faulty assumptions and biased analysis methods. This is not to deny that traffic congestion is a significant problem, but the UMR significantly exaggerates its importance compared with other transport costs and exaggerates roadway expansion benefits.
Traffic Congestion
The Economics of Traffic Jams
Writing in the Economix blog for the New York Times, Nancy Folbre investigates the economic impact of traffic and revives the idea of congestion pricing for Manhattan.
The New York Times
Five Cities With Five Different Congestion Solutions
Joe Peach compares the approach to mollifying congestion in five world cities, with contrasting results.
This Big City
A Gradual Approach to Improve a Busy San Francisco Street
San Francisco has made steps to avert cars from Market Street, but the next steps to alleviate congestion are vague. A gradual rollout of trial experiments to gauge a method's success seems the most likely answer, reports Rachel Gordon.
San Francisco Chronicle
Pedestrians' Dangerous Walk in Mumbai
The doubling of car traffic in the past 20 years in Mumbai has created a transit culture that has become dangerous for pedestrians. More than 44 percent of Mumbai citizens walk to work, and 78 percent road fatalities are pedestrians, a study finds.
The Times Of India
High Tech Approach To Decongesting Midtown Manhattan
Using remote sensing, GPS technology and other high-tech strategies, city traffic planners aim to clear Midtown's infamous traffic problems - from Queens. The $1.6 million investment will tackle a problem costing the city about $13 billion a year.
New York Post
More Lanes Means More Traffic
U. of Toronto economist Matthew Turner discusses his study that shows that building more traffic lanes attracts more traffic. Likewise, providing more transit may lure motorists out of their cars, but those motorists are replaced.
NPR:All Things Considered
Will Congestion Pricing Backfire in the U.S.?
The U.S. Department of Transportation in 2007 selected five cities it thought could effectively implement congestion pricing, but none have come to fruition. What's holding back congestion pricing in the U.S.?
Next American City
Which is the Real Culprit, Growth or Cars?
Jeff Wood of Reconnecting America interviewed a variety of thought leaders at the recent Congress for the New Urbanism. In this video, he talks with Jeff Tumlin about getting Santa Monica, California to embrace growth.
Reconnecting America
The Worst Cities for Traffic
INRIX, a traffic analysis company, recently released its 100 Most Congested Metros list. Los Angeles and New York predictably come out on top, but the more interesting finding is that traffic has increased significantly.
INRIX
Threats of Gridlock are Greatly Exaggerated
Wed, 03/09/2011 - 07:22
A few weeks ago the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) released its latest Urban Mobility Report, and yesterday INRIX released its National Traffic Scorecard 2010 Annual Report. Both paint a grim picture of roadway conditions.
“America is back on the road to gridlock,” warns INRIX.
TTI's Urban Mobility Report Flawed, Says Critic
The Texas Transportation Institute just released its 2010 Urban Mobility Report, which is a standard reference in the road-building industry -- and is seriously flawed, says Joe Cortright.
CEOs For Cities
Beijing's Plan To Limit Traffic Antagonizes Auto Dealers
To reduce congestion, Beijing will follow in Shanghai's footsteps set 10 years ago by limiting new car registrations; only Beijing residents will be able to obtain one,and only vehicles with such plates will be allowed entrance to city center in 2011
The Wall Street Journal: Autos
Transportation Research Helped Create Sprawl, New Report Says
We've been measuring traffic congestion all wrong, a new report shows, and that's been making more highways look like the solution to long commutes. They're not.
Streetsblog
China's Road To Nowhere
Marina Hyde writes that the "horrible thing about China's 62-mile nine-day jam was that it destroyed the certainty that travel will inevitably result in arrival."
The Guardian
Changing Travel Demands: Implications for Planning
Sun, 08/22/2010 - 17:14
The graph below shows the most recent USDOT vehicle-travel data covering the last 25 years. Although vehicle-miles of travel (VMT) grew steadily during most of the Twentieth Century, in recent years the growth rate stopped and even declined a little. It is now about 10% below where it would have been had past trends continued.
How Much Does Congestion Matter?
Sun, 03/28/2010 - 12:55
When Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s
suggested that
bicyclists’ needs should be accommodated in federally-funded road
projects, the
road lobby responded with something approaching hysteria.
Strip Malls Lose Customers During Special Events, Heavy Traffic
Houston Rodeo is actually hurting some businesses around Reliant Center.
KUHF Houston Public Radio
Mega-Project Gets Miniaturized
Dwindling tax revenues force fiscal restraint in Maryland, where planners are shifting money from highway expansion to infrastructure maintenance.
Baltimore Sun
Learning from TTI
Mon, 11/16/2009 - 14:22
This week, I finally got around to looking at the latest (2009) Texas Transportation Institute study on traffic congestion. (1)
Two facts struck me as interesting. First, the great congestion surge of the past decade or two is over. In most large metropolitan areas, congestion (measured as hours lost to congestion per traveler) peaked around 2005, and actually declined in 2005-07. For example, in Atlanta, hours lost to congestion peaked at 61, and decreased to 57 by 2007. Congestion increased in only three of the fourteen largest regions (Washington, Detroit and Houston)- and in each of these by only one hour per traveler.
