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Answers to Many of Your Questions

1. Can I download the report from the internet?

Yes. Link to: http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/report/.

2. What does "cost of congestion" mean?

Value of extra travel time (which we call delay) and the extra fuel consumed by vehicles traveling at slower speeds. Travel time has a value of $ 14.60 per person-hour and $77.10 per truck-hour in 2005. Fuel cost per gallon is the average price for each state.

3. Why is the congestion cost estimate less than last year's report?

The calculation procedures used for the 2007 report are different than in the 2005 report. The new procedures were used to re-calculate all of the historical values such that the delay and fuel amount and cost trend information is correct.

4. What is the Travel Time Index?

The ratio of the travel time during the peak period to the time required to make the same trip at free-flow speeds. A value of 1.3, for example, indicates a 20-minute free-flow trip requires 26 minutes during the peak period.

5. Where should I look for national data and trends?

Look at the Summary Tables – Congestion Levels and Trends.

6. Where is the information about MY city?

Here's the link: http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/congestion_data/. Be sure to look at the first page of the six pages of data about your city.

7. Why don't you have data from my town?

We spend a significant period of time reviewing data for each urban area. We cannot include every urban area.

8. How did you pick the 85 intensively studied urban areas?

We have all of the urban areas with more than 500,000 people. We have several smaller cities, mostly chosen by the previous report sponsors. This is not a representative list.

9. Which one of these tables has the information that I need to know?

We strongly suggest that you examine all the measures. The Travel Time Index, Delay and Cost per Traveler are estimates of the congestion effects on individuals. Total Delay or Cost identifies the size of the congestion problem in the urban area. The change in values over time indicates the rate of growth or decline.

10. Where does my city rank?

The first page of data for each urban area shows the relative rankings of several key measures. These are the best way to interpret the meanings of the congestion measures. The ranges used (e.g., plus or minus 3 or 5 hours) indicate a general precision estimate. If two urban areas have values within this range, the congestion levels are not significantly different.

11. What do you mean "There are several different rankings?"

There are several congestion measures and each has a use and a significance. There is no single, best measure.

12. What is Tim Lomax's title? What is David Schrank's title?

Tim Lomax: Research Engineer
David Schrank: Associate Research Scientist

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