b. Traffic congestion is a condition on road networks that occurs as usage increases and is characterized by slower speeds, longer travel times, and increased vehicle queues. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that interaction between vehicles slows the speed of traffic flow, it results in some congestion. (Wikipedia). As demand approaches the capacity of a road (or intersections along the road), extreme traffic congestion sets in. When vehicles are completely stopped for a period of time, it is commonly called a traffic jam or traffic jam. Traffic jams can cause drivers to become frustrated and become road rage. Hartgen and Fields For daily travelers, the frustration of traffic is obvious. Understanding the impact on cities and the economy, however, is not as simple as many would like. From an economic perspective, the main impact of congestion is lost productivity due to time spent traveling to work rather than at work; delaying (or missing) meetings; forgo interactions between individuals or personal activities due to the long duration of the journey; and spending more time completing tasks than would otherwise be necessary if we could reliably plan to accomplish the same things at smooth speeds. Congestion has implications such as the following: • Loss of time for motorists and passengers (opportunity cost). As a nonproductive activity for most people, congestion reduces regional economic health. Motorists and passengers spend a lot of time in queues and become so tired that when they go to work, their productivity will be low due to fatigue and wasted time. • Fuel waste increases air pollution and car...... middle of paper. .....ds be adopted as an ally. The first type of congestion can be seen as the "main street" problem resulting from a poor mix of through and local traffic, inadequate pedestrian infrastructure, lack of parking offerings and controls. . It also manifests itself through inefficient traffic signals and intersections, lack of right turns, inappropriate frontage land use zoning, insufficient road/rail transfer terminals, and intrusion of through traffic into local streets, poor signage and road markings, etc. The sentiment that transportation is apparently the cause of congestion is actually a bully. But we have seen that traffic jams arise because we all want to get to the same place at the same time and by the same mode. Congestion is the inevitable consequence and without a complete understanding of the process we blame transport ’’.