1. Transportation leadership you can trust. presented to Talking Freight Seminar presented by Richard Margiotta Cambridge Systematics, Inc. September 21, 2005 Highway Bottlenecks and Freight

2. Presentation Overview What’s a bottleneck? Where are the bottlenecks? What are the effects of bottlenecks on truck freight? What can be done to fix bottlenecks?

3. Travel Time Index Trends by City Size (from TTI’s Urban Mobility Study)

4. Annual Congestion Costs 85 Metropolitan Areas Source: Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). Very Large Urban Areas Large Urban Areas Medium Urban Areas Small Urban Areas 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 1984198619881990199219941996199820002002 Annual Costs (in Billions of 2002 Dollars)

5. Vehicle Miles of Travel and Roadway Lane Miles Growth Index, 1980 to 2002 Source: Federal Highway Administration data. 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 1980198519901995 2000 VMT Index/Lane-Mile Index (1980 = 100) Lane Miles VMT Year

6. A Focus on Bottlenecks Specific points on the highway system that are badly broken Huge delays and associated impacts (safety, fuel, and emissions) Widely known by both travelers and transportation professionals Some even have nicknames! “Spaghetti Bowl” in Las Vegas “Hillside Strangler” in Chicago “Mixmaster” in Dallas

7. What’s a Bottleneck? “An event on or near a highway, or physical restriction, that causes traffic flow to degrade from ideal levels” Type I – Visual effects on drivers Roadside distractions Limited lateral clearance “Rubbernecking” Bad weather Type II – Abrupt Changes in Alignment Sharp curves Upgrades

8. What’s a Bottleneck? Type III – Intended Interruption to Flow Traffic signals Toll booths Type IV – Vehicle merging maneuvers On-ramps, freeway-to-freeway ramps Lane-drops In-lane incidents “Weaving” sections

9. American Highway Users Alliance Studies 1999 and 2004 Studies found worst bottlenecks are freeway-to-freeway interchanges Sometimes the result of antiquated design and original alignment decisions Sometimes even advanced designs are simply overwhelmed by traffic

10. Study Approach: The Worst Bottlenecks Ask State DOTs to nominate bottlenecks (with AASHTO’s help) Identify nominated locations in 2002 HPMS data Same data used by TTI’s Urban Mobility Study Compute total hours of delay using same 1999 Study methodology Selects high volume locations Rank bottlenecks

11. The Worst Bottlenecks, 2002 (Total Delay) 1. Los Angeles: U.S. 101 (Ventura Freeway) at I ‑ 405 Interchange 2. Houston: I ‑ 610 at I ‑ 10 Interchange (West) 3. Chicago: I ‑ 90/94 at I ‑ 290 Interchange (“Circle Interchange”) 4. Phoenix: I ‑ 10 at SR 51/SR 202 Interchange (“Mini-Stack”) 5. Los Angeles: I ‑ 405 (San Diego Freeway) at I ‑ 10 Interchange 6. Atlanta: I ‑ 75 south of the I ‑ 85 Interchange

12. The Worst Bottlenecks, 2002 (cont.) 7. Washington D.C.: I ‑ 495 at I ‑ 270 Interchange 8. Los Angeles: I ‑ 10 (Santa Monica Freeway) at I ‑ 5 Interchange 9. Los Angeles: I ‑ 405 (San Diego Freeway) at I ‑ 605 Interchange 10. Atlanta: I ‑ 285 at I ‑ 85 Interchange (“Spaghetti Junction”) 11. Chicago: (Dan Ryan Expressway) at I ‑ 90 Skyway Split (Southside) 12. Phoenix: I ‑ 17 (Black Canyon Freeway) at I ‑ 10 Interchange (the “Stack”) to Cactus Road

13. Sources of Congestion Bottlenecks (40%) Traffic Incidents (25%) Work Zones (10%) Bad Weather (15%) Poor Signal Timing (5%) Special Events (5%) Source: “ Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Linking Solutions to Problems, ” prepared by Cambridge Systematics, Inc. for the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Operations, Washington, D.C., July 2004.

14. Travel Time Reliability (SR-520, Seattle, 4-7 PM)

15. Congested Highways 1998 Source: Federal Highway Administration Freight Analysis Framework.

16. Potentially Congested Highways 2020 Source: Federal Highway Administration Freight Analysis Framework.

17. Major Highway Interchange Bottlenecks for Trucks Source: Cambridge Systematics, Inc.

18. Steep Grade Bottlenecks on Arterials Used As Intercity Truck Corridors HPMS Sample Sections Only

19. Signalized Intersection Bottlenecks on Arterials Used As Urban Truck Corridors HPMS Sample Sections Only

20. Steep-Grade Bottlenecks on Freeways Used As Intercity Truck Corridors HPMS Sample Sections Only

21. Freight Tons, Value, and Ton-Miles by Mode 2002 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 4% 1% 9% 3% 2% 0% 7% 3% 1% 40% 74% 67% 16% 40% 6% <1% 6% 2% 13% 3% TonsValueTon-Miles Percent Truck Rail Water Air Pipeline Multiple Modes Other/Unknown Modes Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau, “ 2002 Economic Census, Transportation, 2002 Commodity Flow Survey, ” Table 1b.

22. What Can Be Done to Fix Bottlenecks? “ Tailored approaches, multiple strategies” Every case is different True congestion relief requires a mix of: Design and construction Operational approaches (especially advanced technologies) Demand management Regional initiatives