U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Vehicle Technologies Office

Fact #291: October 27, 2003
Traffic Congestion, 2001

In areas with more than 3 million people, 76% of travel in 2001 was in congested conditions, according to the Texas Transportation Institute. In 1982, those same areas had only 45% of travel in congested conditions. Areas with less than half a million people experienced only 30% of travel in congested conditions, which still was nearly three times the rate in 1982.

Share of Travel in Congested Conditions, 2001
Graph: Share of travel in congested conditions by population in 1982, 1990, and 2001

Supporting Information

Share of Travel in Congested Conditions, 2001
  1982 1990 2001
Population > 3 million 0.45 0.66 0.76
Population between 1 & 3 million 0.24 0.47 0.65
Population between 1/2 & 1 million 0.17 0.30 0.49
Population less than 1/2 million 0.11 0.18 0.30

Source: Texas Transportation Institute, The 2003 Annual Urban Mobility Report, September 2003.

Return to 2003 Facts of the Week