Traffic Congestion

7 Pages 1872 Words

Traffic Congestion
As our economy continues to grow, so does the problem of traffic congestion. Traffic congestion occurs when the demand of roads or highways exceeds the available capacity. Congestion is achieved when the social cost of driving exceeds the personal costs. Personal costs can be considered costs such as gas or car insurance while an example of a social cost would be the slowing down of other drivers. Traffic congestion has numerous negative effects on the economy. Among the examples that will be discussed are air pollution, time delays, and added taxes. Also, possible solutions will be provided; such as congestion taxes, road expansion, and new technological breakthroughs, along with their drawbacks. Recent research is revealing that proposed solutions may not be as clear-cut as they seem, and may create even more problems. Congestion has a negative effect on our economy, but many experts trying to come up with solutions to this market failure.
Traffic congestion is occurring for many reasons. Some economists think the rapid increase of congestion may be due to urban sprawl. Workers are moving out of major cities and to the suburbs at a frequent pace due to advances in automobiles and communication. People do not have to be in the center of the city anymore to get to and from work. Also, there are many advantages to living in a suburb rather than a city. The suburbs allow people to live in better homes and more spacious land than found in cities. However, one major drawback is that other forms of transportation, such as buses or trains, do not reach many suburbs. This is terrible news in terms of traffic congestion because the majority of these suburbanites have to commute to work each day which in turn creates excess traffic... Statistics show that four out of every five suburbanites commute to work by a personal vehicle. If there are other methods of transportation available in the suburb...