Office of Operations
photos of traffic merging onto congested highway, congestion in snowstorm, variable message sign, cargo, variable speed limit sign in a work zone, and a freeway at night
21st century operations using 21st century technologies

Reducing Non-Recurring Congestion

Program Areas
Vehicles at Night at Highway Intersection

Non-recurring congestion includes the development and deployment of strategies designed to mitigate traffic congestion due to non-recurring causes, such as crashes, disabled vehicles, work zones, adverse weather events, and planned special events. About half of congestion is caused by temporary disruptions that take away part of the roadway from use – or "nonrecurring" congestion. The three main causes of nonrecurring congestion are: incidents ranging from a flat tire to an overturned hazardous material truck (25 percent of congestion), work zones (10 percent of congestion), and weather (15 percent of congestion). Nonrecurring events dramatically reduce the available capacity and reliability of the entire transportation system. This is the type of congestion that surprises us. We plan for a trip of 20 minutes and we experience a trip of 40 minutes. Travelers and shippers are especially sensitive to the unanticipated disruptions to tightly scheduled personal activities and manufacturing distribution procedures.

Aggressive management of temporary disruptions, such as incidents, work zones, weather, and special events can reduce the impacts of these disruptions and return the system to "full capacity."