Measuring Traffic

Rule of Thumb

We measure congestion by time and distance, and with those averages we can get a sense of how much it costs to transport freight from Point A to Point B.

Simple? Yes. And no.

When the cows break through the fence on someone’s property and stand in the middle of the rural route, that’ll bring traffic to a stop for a time…on a lightly used road.

When there’s an accident on a 12-lane highway in Los Angeles, that’ll bring traffic to a stop for a time…on a heavily used road.

Both of these scenarios (and, yes, many other scenarios) affect the bottom line for business. It’ll take longer to reach the destination, and the idling time will add to the fuel cost, and the rates might rise (if not for this load then maybe for future loads), and the carrier might price himself or herself out of the competition for a rotation.

The details of this carry tremendous weight. As the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) study describes it:

“Congestion also leads to wasted diesel fuel, which in turn impacts the environment through excess carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. This problem is augmented by the fact that stop-andgo traffic significantly reduces fuel economy when compared to that of trucks operating at freeflow highway speeds.”

ATRI details congestion costs by region:

And ATRI details congestion by state:

Are the roads that bad in Texas and California, Florida and New York? That’s subjective (even though hitting a pothole always makes for a compelling argument). Either way, these four states have the largest populations in the nation. That means more traffic, more wear and tear on roads and bridges and tunnels, more repair and replacement. More congestion, more delay.

Is there a solution? Until we master gravity, we’ll likely need to deal with, and try improving, what we have.