Cases in Congestion Resilience:Fostering High-Functioning Regional Economies Despite Gridlock

摘要

Congestion alleviation has served as a key surface transportation program objective, buttraditional policy portfolios (excluding pricing) have been not yielded significant congestion alleviationbenefits. But while the importance of enabling high-functioning places despite congestion is becomingincreasingly apparent, existing research provides little guidance. Links are comparatively clearer betweencapacity building or travel demand management and economic growth, system efficiency outcomes, andindividual welfare improvements. But common capacity building and demand management policies havebeen and unsuccessful at alleviating congestion. Researchers broadly agree that congestion pricing is anecessary precondition for significant congestion alleviation, but pricing remains politically unpalatable.The outlook for transportation policy to meaningfully reduce congestion is poor in the current politicalclimate, yet it remains unclear how transportation policy can contribute to high-functioning regionsdespite congestion. To identify “better” regional adaptations to congestion, I explore congestionresilience using a metric of economic growth per unit “cost” of congestion growth. Using case studies ofhigh-congestion MSAs, I explore policies distinguishing congestion resilient Los Angeles andWashington, DC from congestion unresilient Chicago and Houston. Case study results suggest that thereappear to be important roles for road policy, public transit policy, and urban spatial structure indistinguishing the congestion resilient from congestion unresilient regions.