What is congestion? In what sciences and fields of human activity does this word apply? What are the causes of traffic congestion and how to deal with them in progressive countries and cities around the world? You will find answers to all these questions in our article.
Congestion is … Definition and use of the term
This term is used in several scientific disciplines and areas of human activity. Although the meaning of the word "congestion" is approximately the same. Synonyms for it are: traffic jam, delay, hitch and others.
What is congestion? In the broadest sense, this is a slowdown or a temporary delay in the movement of any objects (people, particles, cars, and so on). Moreover, all these objects or bodies should move in the same direction.
Most often, the term “traffic jam” is applicable when it comes to car traffic. In this case, it is often replaced with the word “cork”. The term is also widely used in hydrology. In this science, it means accumulation of ice of various sizes in riverbeds and watercourses. River congestion usually occurs in early spring, causing a rise in water level and floods.
What is traffic congestion?
Residents of large cities are already accustomed to stand idle in traffic jams on the way to the robot or returning home from it. What is a traffic jam? What is he like?
When the number of cars moving along the road exceeds its carrying capacity, a traffic jam or congestion occurs. Its development is rapidly and avalanche-like: in just a few minutes, an entire city street can be paralyzed. Traffic congestion should not be confused with the so-called burly “tugs” or temporary bursts of vehicles in front of traffic lights.
It is curious that the problem of street traffic jams arose in the XVII century! There were no cars in those days, of course. But there were carriages, the number of which went off scale.
In 2006, a new road sign was established in Russia, which is also called: “Congestion”. The sign is temporary. Seeing him in front of the fork, the driver can choose an alternative route to follow in order to go around the problem area.
Causes of traffic jams and methods for solving them
The causes of congestion on urban roads are many. Let's try to highlight the most common of them:
- daily and weekly population movements;
- serious emergency situations;
- repair work on important highways;
- the presence of unregulated intersections of roads or problem intersections;
- narrowing of the carriageway;
- blocking traffic on the roads for the passage of important persons, officials, presidential motorcades, etc.;
- difficult weather conditions (fog, snow, ice, etc.).
They are trying to deal with traffic jams in different countries and cities in different ways. The construction of additional interchanges, the improvement of intersections, the correct adjustment of traffic lights and the expansion of the roadway are classic ways. In the most developed countries of the planet, scientists who use the latest computer technology and development are actively involved in solving this problem.
The Brazilian city of Curitibu can be called a reference example in the fight against traffic jams. Local authorities have brought the work of public transport here to an ideal. In many megacities of East Asia, this problem is solved by means of quotas (as, for example, in Singapore). Here, a person needs not only to buy a car, but also to acquire a quota (permit) for its use within the city.
But in Athens, they approached the solution of the issue unconventionally. In the Greek capital, on even days on the streets of the city only those cars are permitted whose numbers end in an even number. On odd days, it's the other way around.
