Strategies for Mitigating Congestion in Small Urban and Rural Areas
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2022-02-28
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Corporate Contributors:Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE) ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology ; United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; University of Florida. Transportation Institute
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Edition:Final Report 6/28/2017 to 2/28/2022
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Abstract:Despite the common perception that congestion is primarily an issue in large urban areas, both rural areas and small urban areas (under 50,000 population) also experience congestion – and they frequently lack the resources needed to address congestion. Lack of expert staff, fewer instrumented facilities, and characteristic differences in rural traffic flow combine to create significant challenges in reducing and managing rural congestion. The southeastern region is particularly sensitive to these challenges as the region contains many small urban centers and agriculture-based communities. The objectives of this study are to: Determine key characteristics of rural and small urban congestion (e.g., recurring and nonrecurring congestion, mode use, freight logistics, and special events); Identify resource constraints pertinent to rural and small urban communities; Determine the best practices to reduce and/or manage these congestion issues; Develop educational material (i.e., webinar, website, flyer) for use by rural and small urban agencies to help ensure successful implementation of developed guidance; Identify future events for promoting educational materials. The research team developed and distributed a detailed survey to small urban and rural agencies in the southeast to gain information regarding congestion characteristics in the area, limitations, best practices and needs. Follow-up interviews were conducted with a subset of survey respondents to gain additional insights. Findings from both the surveys and interviews indicate that in the majority of small urban and rural areas; there is no systematic data collection related to monitoring and measuring traffic congestion; traveler phone calls were the primary source for identifying congestion; day-to-day peak hour traffic is the biggest contributor to traffic congestion; special events and tourism were the next highest traffic congestion contributors; work zones, traffic crashes, and freight are not significant contributors to congestion; limited tools are used to mitigate congestion due to work zones; interagency interaction is needed to help alleviate congestion, but such interaction is sometimes minimal; additional funding would help relieve congestion; and no training related to congestion mitigation was reported.
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