Planetizen recently published a three-part series of articles examining the role of the planning profession in both perpetuating and solving traffic congestion:

Part 1: Brasuell, J. (April 13, 2022) “Planning and the Complicated Causes and Effects of Congestion,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/features/116834-planning-and-complicated-causes-and-effects-congestion [Last accessed: 5/17/2022]

Part 2: Brasuell, J. (April 20, 2022) “How Planning Fails to Solve Congestion,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/features/116914-how-planning-fails-solve-congestion%5BLast accessed: 5/17/2022]

Part 3: Brasuell, J. (May 12, 2022) “Planning for Congestion Relief,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/features/117153-planning-congestion-relief?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-05162022&mc_cid=34b0612d40&mc_eid=9ccfe464b1 [Last accessed: 5/17/2022]

I think these articles are a must read especially for students (and not just practitioners or professionals) and is sort of a crash course on transportation engineering and planning. It covers many concepts and learnings from so many decades and touches on certain programs that are most effective in reducing car trips. To quote from the article, the top 12 programs based on case studies in Europe are:

1. Congestion Pricing (12-33% reduction in city-center cars)
2. Parking and Traffic Controls (11-19% reduction in city-center cars)
3. Limited Traffic Zones (10-20% reduction in city-center cars)
4. Workplace Mobility Services (37% drop in car commuters)
5. Workplace Parking Charges (8-25% reduction in car commuters)
6. Workplace Travel Planning (3-18% drop in car use by commuters)
7. University Travel Planning (7-27% reduction in car use by university commuters)
8. University Mobility Services (24% drop in students commuting by car)
9. Car Sharing (12-15 private cars replaced by each shared car)
10. School Travel Planning (5-11% reduction in car use for school trips)
11. Personalized Travel Planning (6-12% drop in car use share among residents)
12. App-Based Incentives (73% – proportion of app users declaring reduced car use)

Are we ready to confront congestion and at the least start discussing these car trip reduction programs? Or are we content with the current discourse, which remains car-centric?

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