Traffic Congestion

"As the current economic condition of the country places increasing stress on the public’s finances, elected officials are demanding that public transportation agencies effectively prioritize projects, and show that their expenditures are achieving their intended outcomes. At the same time, the continued reduction in transportation funding has led to growing traffic congestion, as increases in road mileage is not keeping pace with traffic demand. The combination of these trends has placed a tremendous burden on roadway agencies to effectively defend their congestion management programs and congestion relief project selection. Dr. Qu’s book answers key questions about the use of travel time performance measures for project selection and performance reporting. Her book shows that local differences in the definition of “congestion” do not significantly effect the selection of projects – so long as “congestion” is defined equally among all potential projects. This removes a key objection to the use of travel time performance measures in project identification and selection, and allows the next leap forward in the use of performance measures." Mark Hallenbeck, Director, TRAC-UW