Economic Implications of Road Congestion
Weisbrod, G., D. Vary and G. Treyz. 2001. National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Report 463, National Academy Press.

The National Cooperative Highway Research Program, funded by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), commissioned a new study to examine the costs of urban highway congestion on business and economic activity in metropolitan areas. The study, published by the National Academy Press, was authored by Glen Weisbrod of Economic Development Research Group, Inc. , along with Donald Vary of Cambridge Systematics and George Treyz of Regional Economic Models, Inc.

The report provides a detailed review of research on measurement of the user and non-user costs of road congestion, including impacts on business production, logistics and delivery costs, as well as market scale economies. It provides an economic production and cost model framework for estimating congestion impacts, covering both worker commuting and truck delivery impacts. Detailed case studies focused on the Chicago and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and estimated the impacts of future congestion scenarios on the economies of those regions.

The 77 page book may be purchased from the Transportation Research Board Bookstore (Specify NR463). Cost is $29 post-paid. It can be ordered via: (1) telephone: 202-334-3214, (2) internet: http://nationalacademies.org/trb/bookstore/ or (3) mail: Transportation Research Board, Publications Dept., 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418, USA

The report may also be viewed and downloaded free from the Transportation Research Board web site:
Full report -- part 1 (pdf file, 1.4 MB)

Full report -- part 2 (pdf file, 1.0 MB)

Summary Article (pdf file, 142 kB)