Stuck in Traffic: Coping With Peak-Hour Traffic Congestion

by Anthony Downs

Peak-hour traffic congestion has become a major problem in most U.S. cities. In fact, a majority of residents in metropolitan and suburban areas consider congestion their most serious local problem. As citizens have become increasingly frustrated by repeated traffic delays that cost them money and waste time, congestion has become an important factor affecting local government policies in many parts of the nation.In this new book, Anthony Downs looks at the causes of worsening traffic congestion, especially in suburban areas, and considers the possible remedies. He analyzes the specific advantages and disadvantages of every major strategy that has been proposed to reduce congestion. In nontechnical language, he focuses on two central the relationships between land-use and traffic flow in rapidly growing areas, and whether local policies can effectively reduce congestion or if more regional approaches are necessary.In rapidly growing parts of the country, congestion is worse than it was five or ten years ago. But Downs notes that the problem has apparently not yet become bad enough to stimulate effective responses. Neither government officials nor citizens seem willing to consider changing the behavior and public policies that cause congestion. To alleviate the problem, both groups must be prepared to make these fundamental changes.Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Book of 1992Co-published with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Genres: Urban Planning

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Robert A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very academic and dry writing. Interesting concepts of how traffic has gotten so bad and why it is not getting any better. This is an old book, so about 25 years behind. Basically "Triple Convergence" leads to problems getting a little better for a short period of time and then just going back to where they were or even worse. For example, when new roads are built or expanded, more people move to the new route from 1) other routes 2) from transit or ride sharing 3) traveling during peak vs off peak times. Building new roads or expanding ultimately does not help. The problem with traffic is mostly because people refuse to believe they are the problem and don't want to change their behavior under any circumstances. They want to drive alone in their cars and expect everything to be quick, cheap and easy. There are several supply and demand ways to fix this, but many have to be done concurrently to make a difference. Supply situations are build more roads or transit. Demand are peak hour tolls/congestion pricing or gasoline taxes. Other ways to fix this would be to cluster jobs together or demand higher housing density so transit could be more likely. The problem is that the job/housing infrastructure is already in place, so it is extremely difficult to change now. Ways to do this is to highly regulate any new growth, preferably through government/regional bodies that can help pass laws/rules that people don't want. Changes for this stuff can only be made when people see it as a crisis, but they are much less willing to do anything if they have to absorb costs themselves.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it for a class