Congestion strangling economy, FHWA says

May 22, 2002
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) administrator Mary Peters said in testimony before Congress yesterday that increasing traffic congestion is "a growing threat to the nation's economy and to the quality of life of all Americans." Testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, Peters said congestion must be addressed with a long-term strategy
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) administrator Mary Peters said in testimony before Congress yesterday that increasing traffic congestion is "a growing threat to the nation's economy and to the quality of life of all Americans."

Testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, Peters said congestion must be addressed with a long-term strategy to both increase capacity and preserve the health of America's system of roads and bridges.

"Unless we manage highway congestion, our nation will continue to incur economic costs in forgone productivity, wasted fuel, and a reduced quality of life," she said. "Strategic expansion of our transportation system capacity is necessary."

Peters added that congestion and bottlenecks damage air quality, slow commerce, increase energy consumption and threaten quality of life.

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Sean Kilcarr | Editor in Chief

Sean reports and comments on trends affecting the many different strata of the trucking industry -- light and medium duty fleets up through over-the-road truckload, less-than-truckload, and private fleet operations Also be sure to visit Sean's blog Trucks at Work where he offers analysis on a variety of different topics inside the trucking industry.

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