Abstract:
Growing traffic congestion is one of the most significant problems for the transportation system in Arizona, and the nation. Our propensity for single-occupant vehicles has produced not only the well documented metropolitan congestion but has become a universal problem, spreading to smaller urban and rural locations. A challenge for the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) will be to use a variety of practical, relevant congestion mitigation options in appropriate, collaborative and innovative ways to address current and future congestion problems. To meet this challenge, ADOT has undertaken the development of a comprehensive Congestion Mitigation Methodology for the implementation of a consistent and sustained approach to assess and manage the growing congestion problem on all elements of the state highway system. This effort has resulted in the development of practical strategies to help mitigate Arizona’s mobility and congestion problems. A significant step in the development of the Congestion Mitigation Methodology was building a consensus among traffic management stakeholders on effective congestion definitions and overcoming the major obstacles to successful mitigation. Input on the definitions of congestion and congestion management and on the state of the practice in congestion mitigation came from a national survey of MPOs and state DOTs, and from a statewide conference on congestion mitigation. The project has produced recommendations for how to systematically quantify congestion on Arizona’s highways using a state-specific congestion index, and it also has produced an interactive database of available congestion mitigation strategies.
