If You Want Accurate Traffic Projections, Don't Listen to DOTs

Analysis by the State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI) finds that the traffic projections used by state and local transportation agencies, which form the basis for spending priorities, are consistently higher than actual results.

1 minute read

December 18, 2013, 8:00 AM PST

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Forecasts and assumptions about ever-increasing traffic are often used to justify agency decisions to expand roads. But these assumptions are increasingly divorced from reality," reports Angie Schmitt. "In fact, state and regional agencies aren’t just wrong some of the time. State DOTs and metropolitan planning organizations are getting it wrong every year, over and over again, by significant margins, according to SSTI’s analysis."

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 in DC.Streetsblog

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