Completed in June 2024
OKI’s Congestion Management Process
Congestion management is the application of strategies to improve transportation system performance and reliability by reducing the adverse impacts of congestion on the movement of people and goods. OKI’s CMP identifies appropriate performance measures to assess the extent of congestion. It establishes a coordinated program for data collection and system performance monitoring to define the extent and duration of congestion. The CMP also identifies and evaluates appropriate congestion management strategies for the improved safety of the existing and future transportation system.
This report documents the methodology and findings of evaluating travel-time information for the OKI region’s congestion management network, as well as forecasted congestion levels for 2050. Congestion mitigation strategies for selected congested locations are evaluated.
Why is the CMP Important to the Region
The OKI region’s quality of life and economic competitiveness are closely related to the degree to which the transportation system is able to provide an acceptable level of mobility. The importance of congestion is reflected in federal transportation rules requiring a Congestion Management Process (CMP) in metropolitan areas. The CMP provides for safe and effective integrated management and operation of the multimodal transportation system and results in performance measures and strategies that can be reflected in the metropolitan transportation plan and TIP.
Rules Guiding the Plan
Titles III and VI of SAFETEA-LU, Sections 3005 and 6001, updated the requirement for addressing congestion in transportation management areas (TMAs), mandating the incorporation of a CMP within the metropolitan planning process.
In TMAs, SAFETEA-LU requires that the MPO “shall address congestion management through a process that provides for effective management and operation, based on a cooperatively developed and implemented metropolitan-wide strategy, of new and existing transportation facilities … through the use of travel demand reduction and operational management strategies.”
The Final Rule on Statewide and Metropolitan Transportation Planning, published on February 14, 2007, states: “The development of a congestion management process should result in multimodal system performance measures and strategies that can be reflected in the metropolitan transportation plan and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).”
*Source: An Interim Guidebook on the Congestion Management Process in Metropolitan Transportation Planning, FHWA and FTA
