Congestion Management

No one enjoys being stuck in traffic, but it's become a fact of life. It happens to all of us and it seems to be happening more frequently. Traffic congestion causes us to be late for work, makes us frustrated and increases the levels of air pollution we all have to breathe. Congestion, however, is not confined exclusively to roadways. Overcrowded buses, trains and commuter parking lots are other examples of congestion we need to manage.

There are two general kinds of roadway congestion in southeastern Massachusetts: work trip traffic, which occurs during the morning and afternoon commute; and retail traffic, which happens mostly along densely built commercial corridors.

SRPEDD identifies and tracks conditions at congested locations through our Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and location specific studies. In addition to location specific project recommendations, operational and management strategy recommendations are also made in the RTP. Replacement of outdated, pre-timed traffic signals, access management techniques, real-time driver information and other Intelligent Transportation Systems are all included in this category. Our most recent RTP analysis of congestion can be found here. A list of congested locations and current status can be found here.