US declares national congestion reduction strategy

WASHINGTON — The Bush Administration has unveiled a six-point plan to battle traffic congestion in America and stop it from growing to smaller cities, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced.

Whether it takes the form of trucks stalled in traffic, cargo stuck at overwhelmed seaports, or airplanes circling over crowded airports, congestion is costing the U.S. an estimated $200 billion a year, says the DOT in a new report titled the “National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America’s Transportation Network.”

The plan provides a blueprint for federal, state, and local officials to focus on cutting traffic jams, relieving freight bottlenecks, and reducing flight delays.

Transportation congestion in the U.S. costs Americans about $200 B a year

“Congestion is not a fact of life. It is not a scientific mystery, nor is it an uncontrollable force. Congestion results from poor policy choices and a failure to separate solutions that are effective from those that are not,” said Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta in a statement. “We must not be afraid to embrace new solutions if we are going to make any meaningful progress in reducing congestion.”

As transportation congestion mounts, the economic benefits generated by trucking, rail and aviation deregulation are increasingly threatened. At its most fundamental level, highway congestion is caused by the lack of a mechanism to efficiently manage use of existing capacity, notes DOT.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, about half of all congestion can be traced to “recurring” causes (physical bottlenecks, poor signal timing, etc.), and the other half to “non-recurring” (accidents, work zones, weather, etc.).

Alarmingly, congestion is rapidly spreading to suburban and rural territory, according to the report. Based on current trends, highway congestion is on its way toward becoming a problem in medium-sized cities within the next 10 years, while smaller cities, towns, and the suburban and rural fringe can expect to face similar challenges over the next 10 to 15 years.

“A medium-sized city such as Birmingham, Ala, should expect its congestion in 2013 to be as bad as, or worse than, that current experienced by a large city such as St. Louis, Mo.” States the report.

The Administration has outlined several proposals to tackle the growing problem. A few suggestions in the six-point action plan include:

Unleashing private sector investment resources; Promoting operational and technological improvements such as Intelligent Transportation Systems programs; Establish a “Corridors of the Future” competition to select 3-5 major growth corridors in need of long-term investment; and targeting major freight bottlenecks and expand freight policy outreach by engaging shippers from the retail, manufacturing, agricultural and technology sectors, as well as freight carriers and logistics firms, through a series of “CEO Summits,” structured around the Department’s National Freight Policy Framework.