Congestion

Region-wide, congestion is predicted to increase by 119% between 2002 and 2030.

The TPB's modeling efforts show that nearly all the new congestion will occur in the suburbs. The Inner Suburbs will experience the greatest increase in congestion, and will continue to have the worst congestion in the region.

However, the Outer Suburbs will experience the most dramatic change in congestion, with more than a five-fold increase in lane miles of congestion by 2030.

 

 

The combination of increased vehicle miles traveled without an equivalent increase in new highway capacity will result in increased congestion throughout the region.

 

Additionally, Metrorail is expected to become much more congested between 2010 and 2030 due to the transit ridership constraint. Unless new funding for Metro's capital needs can be found, the capacity of the rail system will be limited to the capacity of 2010 within the regional core. This will result in heavy congestion on transit routes to and through the regional core.

Rail system congestion data: WMATA.