The Traffic Congestion In The Tampa Bay Area

Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Problem Statement
Over the past few decades, the traffic congestion in the Tampa bay area has
been increasing steadily. Due to this congestion the Tampa has to face many
issues such as Morning commute getting delayed to their work and at the
end of the day while returning to their homes, the next issue we face is the
Fuel consumption and pollution Fluctuating between starting and stopping
the vehicle at the congested area burns the fuel at a higher rate than that on
the open highway, it not only costs the consumer extra for the fuel but also
the results in depletion of one of our most important and limited natural
resource and a huge amount of emissions are released in the air which
results in air pollution, Furthermore

it also results in Road rage, people tend
to get angry on the road on any one cutting in the line that can lead to an
incident, someone is not driving as fast as the person behind him, it is
basically a temper tantrum by frustrated drivers stuck in the congestion and
finally it creates obstruction to the emergency vehicles like the Police in
action with a 911 call, Fire Truck and Ambulance.

Tampa has a large population group and has a steady congestion growth.
The FDOTs 2011 Urban mobility report statistics say that Tampa and St.
Petersburg area has about 33 hours delay per commute per year and ranks
3rd in Florida and 27th in the country for travel delay, furthermore about 18
gallons of fuel is wasted per year per commute and ranks 1st in the Florida
and 16th in the country for fuel wastage. Thus we need to identify and
evaluate and improve the existing conditions for the city of Tampa bay to
have a better accessibility, mobility for the commuters/users. And to save the
environment from the hazards of global warming and depletion of our
natural resources.
TTE 5205 3
Chapter 2. Literature Review.
2.1 Congestion and its sources
Congestion can easily be recognised roads and sidewalks are filled vehicles
and pedestrians, For those who have faced congested traffic may be familiar
with the concept. Congestion is measured in Travel Time Index can also

be
defined as the ratio of the weekday peak period travel time to the travel time
in the ideal conditions. If the ratio is around 1.25 that means the congestion
is around 25% more than the ideal condition. Now lets take a look at the
Sources of congestion, the sources of congestion according to the national
summary in decreasing order are Bottlenecks (40%), Traffic Incidents (25%),
Bad Weather (15%), Work Zone (10%), Poor Signal Timing (5%) and
Special Events/ Other (5%).
First is the Physical Bottlenecks which is the maximum amount of traffic that
can be handled by the intersection or the highway section and bottlenecks
contribute to about 40% of the congestion which is maximum in than any
other factor, Then the second largest reason is the Traffic incidents, traffic
incidents contribute to about 25% in congestion. Traffic incidents are the
events that disrupt the normal traffic flow, this usually happens due to
physical impedance in the lanes. Most commonly occurring incidents are the
TTE 5205 4
Bottlenecks Traffic Incidents
Bad Weather Work Zone
Poor Signal Timing Special Events/ Other
vehicle crashes, breakdowns, etc. Third is the Bad weather and bad weather
contributes to about 15% of the congestion. It relates to the Environmental
conditions that can result in the behaviour of the driver that leads to
affecting the travel flow and leads to congestion. Next is the Work zones
work zones contribute to about 10% of the congestion. Work zones are the
various construction activities on the roads that results in changing the
physical characteristics of the road causing congestion. Furthermore we
have poor signal timing or the Traffic control devices, It is the congestion
caused by the poor signal timings, Finally the congestion caused by special
events, special events contributes to about 5% of total congestion in the
country.
2.2 Congestion related problems
The problems faced due to congestion affect not only the economy, time and
growth of the city but also affects our environment. Tampa bay has a issue
of congestion and following are some major issues faced by Tampa bay due
to congestion.

2.2.1. Delay
Whenever we hear of congestion or someone has faced a congestion we
immediately know that we will be delayed to the destination. In case of
Tampa bay we find that the population is large and has a constant
congestion up and downs. During the peak hours of 6:00 to 9:00am and
4:00 to 7:00pm Tampa bay suffers the most congestion and commute get
delayed on their way to work or returning home.
TTE 5205 5
U.S Florida
2.2.2. Fuel consumption
One of the most important natural resources we have is the oil which is
depleting very fast and a lot of it is wasted due to congestion on the
intersection specially during peak hours. Fluctuating between starting and
stopping the vehicle at the congested area burns the fuel at a higher rate
than that on the open highway. The graph showing the wastage of fuel per
commute per year is shown below.
2.2.3. Road rage
Road age is a senseless reaction given by driver or commute in the congested
traffic intersections due to frustration or delay to work. People tend to get
angry on the road on any one cutting in the line that can lead to an incident,
someone is not driving as fast as the person behind him, it is basically a
temper tantrum by frustrated drivers stuck in the

congestion
2.2.4. Emergency vehicles
Congestion creates a clog on the road and blocking the roads for emergency
vehicles such as Police in action, Fire truck and Ambulance.
TTE 5205 6
Wastage of fuel per commuter per
year
0
4.25
8.5
12.75
17
2000 2005 2009 2010
U.S Florida
Chapter 3. Research Methodology.
For the project we needed information and data on the congestion in Tampa and
Florida so we visited MPO office and had a meeting with Mr. Calvin Thornton
and Mr. Craig Fox to discussed about the projects and provided us with some data
and guided us for the project. Then we studied what is congestion and what are the
factors affecting congestion and problems caused due to congestion, studying these
factors helped us understand what are the factors we need to target on to help
reduce congestion. The steps we used to deal with the problem are as follows;