What Causes Traffic Jams and Congestion?

We see a lot of cars on the roads every day; well, that is what roads are for after all. However, to say that cars are the only things that cause traffic congestion is not wise. Nonetheless, many people believe that.

But what actually causes traffic jams? There are 3 key factors, saturation, construction and accidents.

So let’s break them down further and see how a traffic engineer in Sydney can fix these issues.

Saturation

The most common form of traffic jam occurs when the number of cars is more than the roadway can support. This is known as saturation which is a reoccurring problem in our daily lives. It makes up about half of all the traffic that Australians experience on a daily basis.

Saturation is most likely to happen when the population of a city grows faster than its infrastructure. However, in order to cope with this problem, you can contact a traffic engineer in Sydney.

Construction

Another factor that affects the flow of traffic is construction work.

While getting stuck in a construction area might seem frustrating, interstate maintenance aids in relieving traffic congestion in the long run. Construction types that can improve the flow of traffic may include installing traffic lights, creating one-way streets, and adding more lanes to the highway.

Traffic engineers in Sydney can help both with planning traffic improvements from the construction and helping to mitigate any disruption caused by the traffic.

 

Accidents

Often, when drivers are stuck in heavy traffic, they wonder if there was an accident. Car accidents block traffic flow for many reasons.

Perhaps the wreck of the damaged car might be blocking the way for other cars. Or people might have slowed down their cars to let the emergency vehicle make its way to the accident location.

Sometimes, drivers also indulge in rubbernecking (watching the damaged cars and the accident scene). This can also disrupt the flow of traffic. So whether or not you are stuck in traffic, you should always avoid the temptation to rubberneck while driving.

The are several other reasons due to which traffic congestion happens, such as:

1. Stuck cars on the roadway due to a lack of mass transit options
2. Road obstacles such as construction work, lane closure, an accident or double parking that hinders the traffic flow and causes the blockage
3. Broken traffic signals due to malfunctioning computers
4. Inadequate green time
5. Too many pedestrians walking on the roadway
6. Several trucks on the roadway because of insufficient rail freight opportunities
7. Overdevelopment in the overcrowded areas where the road system is already inadequate
8. Distracted driving
9. Weather conditions

Bottom Line

Traffic jams can become extremely challenging to deal with. And with the increasing population, this problem is also growing by leaps and bounds. However, with proper planning and traffic impact assessment, we can ease traffic congestion.

In this regard, you may want to contact a top-notch Australian-based boutique consultancy TTPA. TTPA is known to provide evidence-based transport planning and traffic engineering services to architects, developers and more.

So if you face traffic issues day in and day out, consider hiring a Sydney traffic engineer from TTPA.