What Causes Traffic Congestion? An Exploratory Analysis of Possible Main Attributes Contributing to Urban Traffic Congestion in California
Publication: International Conference on Transportation and Development 2022
ABSTRACT
Congestion in metropolitan areas of California has many causes. Traffic congestion significantly affects the population in areas where it occurs. A large number of people are adversely affected by congestion each day in California. Congestion causes individuals to suffer delays and incur extra costs that the auto user must pay. Congestion is measured by factors such as the Travel Time Index and the Roadway Congestion Index. Measuring and identifying the causes of traffic congestion and its relative impact is the first step in reducing congestion. Congestion causes environmental degradation, significant loss of productive time, health impacts, and significant economic impacts. This paper explores some of the factors that account for congestion and their relative impacts on congestion in select metropolitan areas in California. The main goal of the study was to investigate the possible impact of road data, road connectivity, socioeconomic, trip, and weather data and on congestion. The results of this research showed a significant effect of some infrastructure and demographic factors on congestion, namely, that congestion is negatively related with lane miles per person, and positively related to the number of links per area. The findings of this study could be used to improve our understanding of causes of urban traffic congestion and methods to alleviate it.
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International Conference on Transportation and Development 2022
Pages: 136 - 146
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Published online: Aug 31, 2022
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