What's New

The news that traffic congestion is improving in the Greater Akron area may bring some sense of relief to the area’s motorists as they pay higher fuel prices.

The 2010 Existing Congestion Study compiled by AMATS shows a marked improvement on area roadways when compared to a similar study compiled just four years earlier.  Existing congestion studies measure the capacity of the area’s freeways, arterials and intersections to accommodate traffic volume during busy travel times.

PRATER

The area saw significant declines in congestion compared to 2006, according to AMATS Engineer Amy Prater.  A combination of people driving less and the completion of a number of major improvement projects, such as state Route 8 in northern Summit County, may be the reasons for the improving numbers, Prater says.

These findings are consistent with other agency analyses such as crash studies and volume trends.  Crashes and traffic counts have been much lower in the last few years as the economy has continued to struggle and fewer cars and trucks are on the road.  Possible reasons for declining congestion.

“However, this is probably welcome news to motorists who are spending less time in traffic.  It also means that communities will have the ability to devote more of the area’s increasingly scarce funding resources to maintaining what we have rather than taking on costly expansion projects,” she observes.  Study carries project funding implications.

While the Greater Akron area saw improvements, the latest totals do not mean that the area does not have its share of congestion problems.  Prater notes that the analysis identified a number of freeway and arterial segments as deficient.  “While congestion improved overall, clearly it will continue to be an issue in some locations well into the foreseeable future,” she says.

Unique to the latest study is the inclusion of “weave” analyses of 19 area freeway segments.  The agency believed that the analyses were necessary because of the high number of vehicle lane changes in these locations due to closely spaced entrance and exit ramps.  The two most closely spaced interchanges, Wolf Ledges/Grant Street and Main Street/Broadway in Akron, were among the segments analyzed.  These segments, together with the Central Interchange, rank as the region’s top congestion and safety concerns.  Prater explains weave analysis.

The 2010 Existing Congestion Study is available by clicking here.  Summary tables of the six most deficient freeway segments under the weave analysis, the five most deficient arterial segments and a capacity analysis of seven intersections are available by clicking here.