Urban Congestion Relief

Overview
Two million more people are expected to to be added to our state's population by 2025. Most of these people are expected to live in our urban areas where traffic congestion is a growing problem.

The Washington State Legislature asked us to conduct a congestion relief study for three major urban areas: Spokane, Vancouver and Central Puget Sound. We completed the study in two phases and answered the following critical questions:

• What would it take to significantly reduce expected future traffic delay due to congestion in the State’s major urban areas?
• What are the associated costs and impacts?

Study Highlights

Phase 1 

We analyzed a variety of congestion relief solutions and concluded that effective congestion management lies in a strategic combination of transportation supply, demand management and using the existing facilities more efficiently. Our findings suggested that value pricing be given much great attention as a congestion reduction strategy in the future.

Phase 2

We evaluated the effects of pricing on congestion and analyzed a variety of roadway pricing such as HOT lanes and region wide congestion pricing. The analysis focused on answering two key questions: “How effective could these strategies be in reducing congestion?” and “How much would they cost?”

	Relieves Congestion Managing traffic congestion is critical for the future of Washington families and our economy. The study identifies strategic transportation investments to manage anticipated travel demand and growth.
	Protects Environment Effective transportation is critical to maintaining our economy, environment and quality of life.
	Economic Incentive This study provides state, regional and local transportation leaders with information on how various congestion pricing strategies could reduce congestion in the Central Puget Sound region.

Partnerships & Cooperation
Supporting Agencies include the Puget Sound Regional Council, King County, city of Seattle and Sound Transit.

Funding
The state legislature provided $3.8 Million through the Transportation 2003 Account (Nickel Funding) to conduct this study which was instrumental in the development of Moving Washington our program to fight congestion. This study also contributed to the development of innovative projects such as HOT lanes and Active Traffic Management.

Contact Us
urbanplanning@wsdot.wa.gov
WSDOT Urban Planning Office
401 2nd Avenue South, Suite 300
Seattle, WA 98104-2887

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