What causes traffic buildup/congestion? in the same spots each day? and how can this be alivieated?

Question

What causes traffic buildup/congestion? in the same spots each day? and how can this be alivieated?

Answer 1

Too many cars.

shoot every other driver. Or junk their cars.

Answer 2

certain parts of the road (interchanges are a good example) can't handle as many cars per hour as other parts of the road.

The entire system is only as fast as its slowest link, just like a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

The best way to fix it is to identify bottleneck areas and improve them to increase their capacity.

Answer 3

The biggest cause of traffic congestion is just TMC - too many cars . Add to the mix different size cars going at different speeds along with big and small trucks and throw in a breakdown or collision and the next thing you know - snail's pace . It all comes down to trying to squeeze too many vehicles into a restricted space.

A couple of things could help right now -

Lower the speed limit to 55 in major metro areas or wherever roads get routinely clogged up (this is on the highway only.)

Again on the highway, have the highway patrol run 'traffic breaks' - like they do to help clear debris from the highway - in between emergency calls . This would force everybody to go the same, albeit, slower speed.