As the U.S. population and vehicle miles traveled grows exponentially faster than our new capacity, improved operations alone can only mitigate congestion, but not solve the problem in its entirety. Nevertheless, this paper focuses primarily on improved operational aspects of our roadway system. In the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's (ARTBA's) analysis, the operational aspects of the roadway system can be enhanced primarily in three ways: 1) operational improvements to the infrastructure, 2) more efficient traffic management, and 3) improved traffic management in temporary traffic control situations (e.g. work zones and emergency incident management). Each of these approaches is impacted, to varying degrees, by the general themes related to a) funding, b) institutional cooperation, understanding, and coordination, c) federal involvement, and d) planning. This paper analyses each of the three approaches identified by ARTBA as they relate to the themes.
Abstract