Smart Innovations and Constructions 200
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Traffic Congestion Metrics: A Review
Yash Rane
1
, Suhasini Kulkarni
2
Department of Civil Engineering
Parul Institute of Engineering and Technology (PIET), Parul University, Vadodara, Gujarat
Email: yashrane92@yahoo.com
1
, suhasini.kulkarni@paruluniversity.ac.in
2
DOI:- https://doi.org/10.47531/SIC.2022.25
Abstract
With the increasing population, traffic congestion has become one of the major issues
in India. Traffic congestion causes two major issues. First, it increases fuel
consumption and emissions, which leads to pollution, and secondly, it increases road
accidents which lead to loss of precious human life and damages property. To reduce
congestion, identification of congestion measuring metrics, proper land-use patterns
and traffic management are three major factors. This paper reviews different
congestion metrics used to measure traffic congestion and traffic management measure
used to reduce congestion. A systematic review is carried out, and the strength and
weaknesses of these measures are discussed.
Keywords: - Traffic Congestion, Traffic management, Congestion measurement
INTRODUCTION
Traffic congestion to a layman involves motionless
or slowly moving vehicle lines on a freeway or
city street, lane closure due to road construction or
an accident, or some form of traffic backup. On
the other hand, the transportation professional
thinks of congestion in terms of flow rates,
capacity, volumes, speeds and delay.
Traffic congestion occurs when traffic capacity
does not meet traffic demand at sufficient speed,
traffic controls are misused, or an event occurs on
the road, such as an accident or vehicle
breakdown. Congestion may occur at any time of
the day.
Traffic congestion is a relative phenomenon linked
to the difference between the roadway system
performance that users expect and how the system
performs. Urban traffic congestion must be
understood in the broader context of city dynamics
and agglomeration benefits. Traffic congestion in
urban areas is often the outcome of successful
urban economic development, employment,
housing and cultural policies that make people
want to live and work relatively close to each other
and attract firms to benefit from the gains in
productivity thus derived.
Traffic congestion can be classified into two types,
i.e. recurrent and non-recurrent, and can be
distributed over a network or isolated. There is
recurrent congestion when traffic on a highway
reaches its capacity at a given location at a
consistent and repetitive time of day. Non-
recurrent congestion is caused by frequent or
unexpected events that temporarily rise, requiring