MITIGATING TRAFFIC CONGESTION - FHWA Operations

MITIGATING TRAFFIC CONGESTION

THE ROLE OF DEMAND-SIDE STRATEGIES

MITIGATING TRAFFIC CONGESTION

THE ROLE OF DEMAND-SIDE STRATEGIES

BY

The Association for Commuter Transportation

WITH

URBANTRANS

C

O

N

S

U

L

T

A

N

T

AND

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

U.S. Department of Transportation

Federal Highway

Administration

OCTOBER 2004

S

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

M I T I G AT I N G T R A F F I C C O N G E S T I O N

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PRINCIPLE AUTHORS

Kevin Luten

UrbanTrans Consultants

Katherine Binning

Parsons Brinckerhoff

Deborah Driver

UrbanTrans Consultants

Tanisha Hall

UrbanTrans Consultants

Eric Schref?er

ESTC

WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

Stuart Anderson, UrbanTrans Consultants

Fox Chung, UrbanTrans Consultants

Joddie Gray, UrbanTrans Consultants

Justin Schor, UrbanTrans Consultants

David Ungemah, UrbanTrans Consultants

Tad Widby, Parsons Brinckerhoff

Tammy Wisco, Parsons Brinckerhoff

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Association for Commuter Transportation

PO Box 15542

Washington, DC 20003-0542

202.393.3497 ? 678.244.4151 (fax)

act@act-



4

T H E R O L E O F D E M A N D - S I D E S T R AT E G I E S

FORWARD

Note From the Director

Of?ce of Transportation Management, Of?ce of Operations

Federal Highway Administration

As we advance further into the 21st Century, strategies to manage demand will be more critical to better transportation operations and system performance than strategies to increase

capacity (supply) of facilities. The inability to easily and quickly add new infrastructure,

coupled with the growth in passenger and freight travel, have led to the need for transportation system managers and operators to pay more attention to managing demand.

The original concepts of demand management took root in the 1970s and 1980s from

legitimate desires to provide alternatives to single occupancy commuter travel ¨C to save energy, improve air quality, and reduce peak-period congestion. Today, the need to manage

travel demand has broadened to encompass the desire to optimize transportation system

performance for both commute and non-commute types of trips, and during both recurring as well as non-recurring events.

FORWARD

M I T I G AT I N G T R A F F I C C O N G E S T I O N

Growth in population, number of vehicles and the number of travelers, freight, and development has affected travel demand and re-shaped travel patterns. Managing travel

demand now occurs at shopping malls, tourist sites, employment areas, or special events,

such as the Olympics. The need to manage demand can occur in the middle of the day,

during weekends, or evenings. Demand¨Cside approaches are needed to help address transportation issues created by growth and the variability in demand for use of the system.

In this light, the Federal Highway Administration¡¯s Office of Transportation Management

is pleased to present this new report on demand-side strategies and the important role that

it plays in 21st Century transportation operations. This report builds upon previous work

done on travel demand management in the early 1990¡¯s to present a newer, more contemporary, perspective on what managing demand in the 21st Century really means.

Given the greater need to manage demand under a broader set of situations and conditions, as well as the influence of information and the technologies to deliver it, the concept

of demand management in the 21st Century takes on a broader and more relevant meaning. Managing demand in the 21st Century goes beyond just encouraging travelers to

change their travel mode from driving alone to a carpool, vanpool, public transit vehicle,

or other alternative. Managing travel demand today is about providing travelers, regardless of whether they drive alone or not, with informed choices of travel route, time, and

location ¨C not just travel mode.

Information and the technology to deliver it to travelers are beginning to have a significant

impact on managing demand for both commute and non-commute situations. Real-time

information systems can now let travelers make better decisions about how they travel

(mode), when they travel (time), which route they travel (route), and whether they travel at

T H E R O L E O F D E M A N D - S I D E S T R AT E G I E S

5

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