From the latest issue of the Urban Transportation Monitor: ---------------------------- Highway Group Claims Value of Interstate System Threatened Congestion Eroding System Travel on the Interstate system increased by 37% from 1994 to 2004, while addi­tional lane mileage increased by only 5%, according to statistics released in a new re­port by The Road Information Program (TRIP), a nonprofit research group funded by the transportation highway industry. According to TRIP, the 45,329-mile U.S. interstate system remains the most critical transportation element of the nation's economy. The interstate system, which includes 2.5% of all roadway lane miles in the coun­try, carries 24% of all vehicle travel in the nation. Based on Trip numbers, vehicle travel grew at a rate seven times higher than that at which capacity was added. Congestion is particularly severe in metro­politan areas, where 41% of Interstate miles were considered congested in 2001 because they carried traffic at volumes that resulted in significant delays, compared to about 33% in 1996. ---------------------------- And the situation is getting worse. Frank Randak

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