All articles are advisory or informational and should not be construed as having regulatory effect. Contents of this publication may be copied provided credit is given to Public Roads and the authors. About 80 percent of Americans live in areas with a population of 50,000 or more, and 88 percent drive to work. And to make matters worse, traffic volume over the next 20 years is expected to increase another 50 percent.
Congestion is the cancer of transportation.
In the United States, literally millions of commuters spend two to four hours a day on the road. Many transportation officials have said that we cannot build our way out of this problem. It is virtually impossible to secure the necessary land and to construct enough highway lanes to increase capacity to satisfy an ever-increasing demand. Federal Highway Administrator Kenneth R. Wykle said we must use technology and information to significantly increase the capacity and productivity of our current infrastructure. This solution is reflected in the Federal Highway Administration s 1998 National Strategic Plan, which proposes to use technology and information systems to reduce delays on federal-aid highways by 20 percent in 10 years.