摘要: |
As congestion on the nation's road system worsens, social costs are mounting. Road users' journeys to perform household tasks, to commute to work, or to deliver freight take longer every year. The facts-and so far the costs-are inescapable. Based on a sample of 75 major urbanized areas in the United States, the Texas Transportation Institute estimated that traffic congestion caused roughly 700 million person hours of delay per year in the early 1980s, more than 2 billion hours of delay in 1990, and nearly 3.5 billion hours of delay by 2000. The current costs of congestion-opportunity costs to motorists, reduced productivity of for-hire and private trucking operations, and higher inventory costs for shippers-could approach $50 billion a year. Growth in the nation's population and income ensures that these costs will continue to rise. |