The effects of traffic
congestion are widespread and affect the movement of people and goods.
The effects show up in increased travel time, increased fuel consumption in stopandgo
traffic and lost productivity of people and freight moving vehicles. Congestion also
affects the efficiency of justintime manufacturing processes. A crash or
breakdown that increases vehicle travel time can mean that components do not arrive in
time to be installed on schedule. This requires businesses to keep more inventory to
accommodate unreliable delivery schedules. *
Congested driving conditions result in less efficient
vehicle operation which wastes fuel. Drivers in urban areas have to purchase the
equivalent of 4 extra tanks of fuel per year due to traffic congestion. In 1996,
congestion cost U.S. travelers 4.6 billion hours of delay and 6.7 billion gallons of
wasted fuel. This results in a loss of $74 billion (time and fuel cost combined).*
To combat these problems, our team will
research and develop the GAS Simulation Program.
This tool will provide
transportation authorities and city planners with data that will describe and predict the
traffic flow on the Hampton Roads
Interstate System. This data can be used to determine more efficient ways of
utilizing our roadways. This will permit officials to effectively fight gridlock in
Hampton Roads.
* U. S. DOT Traffic Study (Click
Here to download traffic report in PDF format)
