* Traffic, traffic everywhere: Traffic Congestions Worldwide

* Europe - Truck fleets should avoid London and Paris Traffic Congestion

London,UK/Paris,France -Fleet Owner, by Brian Straight -Nov 10, 2010: -- Any fleet with freight to move in Europe, would be well advised to avoid London and Paris. That’s one of the conclusions drawn from a study of European traffic congestion by Inrix, a provider of traffic services... Inrix supplies traffic data to Ford Motor Co., TomTom, MapQuest, Microsoft, and TeleNav to name just a few clients. The company offers statistical analysis of traffic data gleaned from various public and private sources... Drivers in Manchester spend an average of 72 hours per year stuck in traffic, slightly more than the 70 hours drivers in Paris spend, although Paris ranks as the most clogged city in the six European countries studied (U.K., France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg)... London is the second most clogged city, according to the study, with drivers spending an average of 54 hours per year in traffic... In Utrecht, The Netherlands, drivers will sit in traffic for 75 hours per year. Arnhem (67 hours), Den Haag (61) and Amsterdam (65) are also notoriously tough commutes, in that country, Inrix said... On average, the study revealed that drivers in the U.K. can expect a Travel Time Tax (T3)-- the amount of time it takes to travel on a congested road as opposed to the same road during uncongested times-- of 22%... By comparison, the T3 time in France is 14%; in Germany 19%; and 21% in both The Netherlands and Luxembourg...

* UK - Snow chaos spreads to south-east

London,EN,UK -FT, by Bob Sherwood and Chris Tighe -November 30 2010: -- The early winter freeze reached London and the south-east as fresh snow falls caused more disruption across the UK...  Parts of the capital, Kent and Essex were blanketed by snow for the first time this winter, disrupting commuters, drivers and air passengers in what has become the earliest widespread snowfall for 17 years...   The Met Office issued heavy snow warnings for Yorkshire and Humber, east Midlands, east and north-east England, London and south-east England...  The east coast mainline was forced to run an amended timetable and Eurotunnel freight services were suspended at Folkestone...  The north-east endured its sixth day of snow and freezing temperatures. With more than a foot lying even in urban areas, some councils have been forced to suspend bin collections...  Some roads in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Cumbria were closed, with main roads impassable in Barnsley...    However, in most regions main routes were flowing freely and local authorities seemed better prepared for the freeze than they were last winter... (Photo from t1.gstatic:   Snow has caused substantial delays on the M20)

* USA - Cities with the worst traffic congestion

Chicago, ILL,USA -Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr -November 29, 2010:   ...  NAVTEQ’s Traffic.com site compiled a “top 10” list of the U.S. cities with the worst traffic congestion, according to their own in-house pool of data compiled by 400 experts monitoring traffic 24/7 in 113 national markets... Those cities, listed in order with the very worst at the top, are:

•  New York
•  Washington DC
• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Los Angeles
• Philadelphia
• Chicago
• Dallas
• Atlanta
• Houston

Now, traffic congestion in general – and in these cities especially – is nothing new. Indeed, according to the Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI) urban mobility report, Americans annually lose a total of 4.2 billion hours in traffic congestion, wasting 2.9 billion gallons of fuel and $78.2 billion each year.

* Question is: Though, what to do about it?

New York,NY,USA -Fleet Owner, by Brian Straight -Nov 10, 2010:   ...   Some of the solutions that are being used worldwide to combat traffic congestion don’t go over too well with U.S. drivers. Take the concept of “congestion pricing” for example. It’s been used with great effect in Stockholm, Sweden, but only got the “go ahead” as policy following a city-wide referendum on the matter – and I just don’t think “congestion pricing” as a traffic management strategy would find much support among urban U.S. voters...
(Video:  by ReasonTV, Interview and editing:  Paul Detrick. Camera: Hawk Jensen.- 9 Nov 2010: Can't find curb-side parking? UCLA economist Donald Shoup can find you a space...  Professor Shoup is the author of The High Cost of Free Parking, and points out that, "just because the driver doesn't pay for parking doesn't mean the cost goes away"...  In addition to making it harder to find a spot when you need one, "free" parking exacerbates other problems, from pollution to traffic congestion. Using the power of market pricing, Shoup explains how to fix the parking mess in three steps...  Cities from San Fransisco to Washington, DC are already adopting Shoup's reforms)
 There’s another school of thought on traffic management that focuses on the vehicle parking issue. By removing what these experts dub “free” curbside parking, and implementing high rates of “pay-for-parking” meters in downtown locations, this would drive more folks to use alternative forms of transportation in lieu of cars – thus reducing not only traffic congestion but petroleum consumption and emission levels...

* It'll  be these plans solutions for ?  


 ...  AAA, for one, projected that 42.2 million Americans would don their travellin’ shoes for the recent Thanksgiving holiday this year, with said holiday “travel window” starting Wednesday, November 24 and ending yesterday on Sunday, November 28...  “Increasing traffic congestion places a tremendous burden on the economy as well as individuals. When traffic congestion increases in a region, it reduces the level of personal and commercial mobility, making a region less attractive to both employers and employees,” said William Wilkins, The Road Information Program’s executive director... What you think ... ??? ... (Photo: Pasadena's CAL,USA, freeway tunnel)