Measures of Travel Reliability and the National Strategy to Reduce Congestion

The USDOT May 2006 white paper, National Strategy to Reduce Congestion on America’s Transportation Network, calls for the consideration of new, non-traditional solutions to the problem of congestion. This paper outlines a broad course of action for urban surface transportation operations that aligns with the six-point action plan identified by USDOT. Although a significant departure from current operational practices, this course of action represents an opportunity to squarely address and solve the root causes of the interlinked congestion-mobility-productivity problem rather than to simply mitigate or reduce congestion. Key to this approach is the measurement of travel reliability, and to make this measurement the foundation for financial transactions between transportation system user and transportation system operator. This proposed course of action centers around the guarantee of reliable travel to road users in exchange for user fees collected through ubiquitous, system-wide congestion pricing on all high-capacity facilities. This implies a money-back guarantee for reliable and speedy travel for transportation system users paying variably priced user fees. The revenue stream generated from these fees would be dedicated to improved transportation operations, and the involvement of the private sector to build and maintain tolling infrastructure. Such an approach places the correct focus on the accurate measurement of individual road user performance, and the characterization of system performance based on the delivery of reliable, predictable person-trips, rather than other, less relevant measures of congestion measures traditionally used by roadway system operators.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Wunderlich, Karl E
  • Roberts, Donald
  • McGurrin, Michael F
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 86th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2007-1-21 to 2007-1-25
• Date: 2007

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: References;
• Pagination: 10p
• Monograph Title: TRB 86th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Congestion pricing; Infrastructure; Mobility; Operations; Reliability; Toll roads; Traffic congestion; Traffic flow; Travel; Travel time; User charges
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Department of Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Road networks
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Finance; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01049657
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 07-1907
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 8 2007 6:37PM