Transportation's Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions ...

Transportation’s Role in Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Volume 2
Feasibility
Roadway-based information strategies already are being widely deployed. One key
barrier to more comprehensive deployment is institutional; widespread deployment and
use of information infrastructure requires effective coordination among State, regional,
and local agencies and potentially private entities. As with traffic management, which
relies on a common information infrastructure, perhaps the most significant action the
Federal government could take to speed deployment of traveler information strategies is
to provide additional funding to cover the design, construction, and operation of
information collection and dissemination systems, as well as to specifically support
interagency and interjurisdictional coordination efforts.
There is significant potential for the private sector to enter the traveler information
market. The degree to which the private sector will participate with publicly sponsored
traveler information systems is not yet known. It also is conceivable that the private sector
will offer an increasingly comprehensive set of traveler information services, thus
reducing or even eliminating the need for public sector involvement in some types of
services.
Greater provision of transit traveler information is limited by fiscal and resource
constraints at transit agencies with limited operating budgets. Funding to support the
deployment of the required hardware and software data management systems could help
overcome this barrier. Carpool matching systems are being tested by the private sector,
but traveler interest/acceptance remains a significant unknown. The willingness of
travelers to lose a small amount of travel time and travel with a stranger is likely to
depend greatly on the price of fuel and therefore the monetary benefits of doing so.
Parking guidance systems currently are most feasible at large, centrally operated parking
facilities; concepts are emerging for providing parking information where parking is
decentralized (such as business districts) but their feasibility is unknown.
Bottleneck Relief
Description
Bottlenecks are specific points on the transportation network where demand exceeds
capacity, thereby creating traffic delays and leading to wasted fuel and excess GHG
emissions. Major physical bottlenecks have been the focus of transportation
improvements—and of travelers’ concerns—for many years. On much of the urban
highway system, there are specific points that are notorious for causing congestion on a
daily basis. These locations—which can be a single interchange (usually freeway-tofreeway),
a series of closely spaced interchanges, or lane-drops—are focal points for
congestion in corridors; major bottlenecks tend to dominate congestion in corridors where
they exist.
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