Traffic Congestion Essay

b. Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queuing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough, that the interaction between vehicles slows the speed of the traffic stream, this results in some congestion.(Wikipedia).

As demand approaches the capacity of a road (or of the intersections along the road), extreme traffic congestion sets in. When vehicles are fully stopped for periods of time, this is colloquially known as a traffic jam or traffic snarl-up. Traffic congestion can lead to drivers becoming frustrated and engaging in road rage.

Hartgen and Fields For everyday travellers, the frustration of traffic is obvious. Understanding the impact on cities and the economy, however, is not as straightforward as many would like. From an economic perspective, congestion’s main impact is the lost productivity from more time spent travelling to work rather than working; delaying

(or missing) meetings; foregoing interactions among individuals or personal activities due to long travel time; and spending more time to accomplish tasks than would otherwise be necessary if we could reliably plan for accomplishing the same things at free-flow speeds

Congestion has implication such as the following;

• Wasting time of motorists and passengers (Opportunity cost). As a non-productive activity for most people, congestion reduces regional economic health. Motorist and passengers spent a lot of time in queues and become so tired that when they go to work their productivity will be low due to tiredness and wasted time.

• Wasted fuel increasing air pollution and car...

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...ds to be embraced as an ally. The first kind of congestion may be thought of as the "Main Street" problem that results from a bad mix of through and local traffic, inadequate pedestrian facilities, poor parking provision and controls. It is further manifested in inefficient traffic signals and intersection layouts, lack of right turn pockets, inappropriate frontage land use zoning, insufficient road/rail transfer terminals, and intrusion of through traffic into local streets, poor signing and road marking and so on endlessly. The sense that transport is the apparent begetter of congestion it is indeed a tyrant. But we have seen that congestion occurs because we all want to get to the same place at the same time by the same mode. Congestion is the inevitable consequence and without full understanding of the process we blame transport ’’.