CONGESTION IN THEATLANTA REGION

State Transportation BoardCommittee of the Whole

February 14, 2007

Kofi WakhisiPrincipal Transportation Planner

Atlanta Regional Commission

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)Boundaries

Former 10 County MPO

2000 Urbanized Area

18 County MPO

Federal Planning Requirements for a MPO

• Develop long range plan (RTP)

• Develop short-range implementation program (TIP)

• RTP and TIP must be:

• Multimodal and balanced

• Collaboratively developed

• Financially constrained

• RTP and TIP must conform to air quality standards in areas of nonattainment

• Congestion Management Process (CMP) must be developed and implemented by larger MPOs

CMP Facility-Based Elements

• Measure system performance

• Identify causes of congestion

• Assess alternatives

• Implement cost-effective actions

• Evaluate effectiveness of actions

Emphasizes demand reduction programs and operational improvements prior to consideration of SOV capacity

INTENSITY (TTI)How bad is the congestion?

How the Atlanta CMP Defines Congestion

EXTENTHow many people are affected?

DURATION How long does it last?

Incorporated into the 70% weighting of congestion relief for project prioritization

Incorporation of Congestion Mitigation Task Force Recommendations

• Regional TTI Target of 1.35

• 70% Congestion Relief Weighting

• Apply consistent benefit-cost methodology

TTI: Congested Travel Time 35% longer than Free Flow Travel Time

Severe Congestion>1.8

Moderate Congestion1.35-1.80

No Congestion1-1.35

Congestion LevelTTI

2005 Conditions 2030 Conditions

Isolated severe congestion in north and northwest

Severe congestion throughout region

NEW!

Free Flow Conditions PM Peak Period

Congestion Restricts Commuters

45 minutes

Reduced accessibility from Downtown/Midtown (2005)

Regional Travel Time Index

0.000.200.400.600.801.001.201.401.601.80

2006 Mobility 2030 No-Build

1.341.52

1.79

Congested Travel Time vs. Free Flow Travel Time

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

2006 Mobility 2030 No-Build

Percent of VMT in Congestion

13.6%

21.8%

30.3%

VMT = Vehicle Miles of Travel

Annual Per Capita Cost of Congestion

$0

$500$1,000

$1,500$2,000

$2,500$3,000

$3,500

$4,000

2006 Mobility 2030 No-Build

$1526

$2493

$3540

Wasted Fuel and Time

There is no Silver Bullet

• Rapid growth will always create congestion

• Infrastructure “chases”growth

• Metro areas have a wide range of travel patterns and needs

• Traditional capacity expansions don’t meet all needs or conditions

Extra capacity is not a cost effective strategy to address incident related congestion.

I-85 Southbound near Atlanta, GASeptember 26, 2006

Crashes Cause Over Half of All Congestion

I-85 Southbound near Atlanta, GASeptember 26, 2006

Special Events Create Unique Demands

Good planning, proper traffic control and travel options are all essential to manage unique demands. Remember how well traffic flowed during the Olympics?

Comprehensive Strategy is Needed

• More travel options for residents and visitors

• “Four T” approach• Tolling

• Transit

• Telecommuting

• Technology

• Cost effective solutions

• Better implementation rate

• Integration of land use and transportation planning

• Additional funding to meet needs and priorities

• Georgia spends 50% less per capita on transportation than the national average

I-85 Southbound near Atlanta, GASeptember 26, 2006

Next Steps

• Continued advances in CMP development

• Continued Incorporation into Project Identification and Prioritization Process

• Intensify Field and Real-Time Data Collection Efforts

• Jurisdictional Bottleneck Submittals

• Travel Time GPS Data

• Intersection Turning Movement Count Data

• Activity Center Based Congestion Monitoring