SAFE Releases New Transportation Report: Congestion in America
Posted January 24, 2012 at 12:09 pm 
Filed in: Energy Demand, Energy Efficiency, Gas Prices, Legislation, National Security, Oil Dependence, Oil Prices, Transportation Today, Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) released a new report, Congestion in America: A Growing Challenge to U.S. Energy Security. The report emphasizes the crucial interaction between transportation policy and the challenges to energy security posed by U.S. oil consumption. Participating in the release were Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC) Co-Chair Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, and ESLC member, U.S. Air Force General John W. Handy (Ret.), former Commander, U.S. Transportation Command. Both men referenced the importance of improving U.S. transportation policymaking to alleviate the worsening congestion that contributes to excess oil consumption and threatens economic and national security.
Congestion in America highlights inefficiency in the surface transportation system, and particularly the challenge of urban congestion, as a growing cause of wasted time and fuel. Total fuel wasted from urban congestion has fallen between 100,000 and 150,000 barrels of oil per day over the past ten years, and in 2010 alone drivers in U.S. metropolitan areas wasted over 1.9 billion gallons of fuel. Furthermore, in 20 of the nation’s largest cities, annual costs of congestion exceed $1 billion. In the absence of substantial policy intervention, estimates suggest that these costs in fuel waste and travel delays will increase by 30 percent by 2015 and 65 percent by 2030.
Source: Texas Transportation Institute
Source: Texas Transportation Institute
SAFE urges a comprehensive and balanced approach to increasing traveler mobility and reducing congestion related fuel waste. The report outlines the range of options available to policymakers to alleviate the costs of congestion, grouped into the following categories:
- Pricing and other flow management techniques to reduce or eliminate recurring congestion
- Accident/Incident management for mitigating the likelihood and effect of non-recurring congestion
- Improved public transit service and other alternatives to single-occupancy vehicle travel
- Strengthened long-term urban planning and development initiatives
Current federal surface transportation legislation, funding over $50 billion annually in highway and transit programs, expires on March 31 of this year. The policies outlined in Congestion in America present market-based mechanisms to cut oil consumption and increase the efficiency of surface transportation infrastructure while improving energy security. As Congress seeks to pass long-term transportation legislation, it is imperative that these instruments are incorporated, and energy security remains forefront as a key policy priority.
Click Here to Read the Full Report
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