Trucks World News

Jan 29, 2017

TRAFFIC JAMS * USA: Atlanta, the worst

* Georgia - The nation's truckers know Atlanta has worst traffic jams

--- The American Transportation Research Institute ranks I-285 at I-85 as the worst bottleneck for trucks in the country, something that Atlanta-area commuters are all too familiar with: traffic jams in and around the city can be the worst... The list assesses the level of truck-oriented congestion at 250 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from more than 600,000 heavy duty trucks uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location... According to data from this year's list, trucks' average speed at the northbound juncture of I-285 and I-85 is 38 m.p.h., with that average dropping to 26 m.p.h. during rush hours... According to the ATRI, congestion on the nation's highways costs the trucking industry $49.6 billion a year. That cost comes from 728 million lost hours of industry productivity — the equivalent of 264,500 truck drivers sitting still for an entire year... While Atlanta's seven traffic hot spots was good for second-most, Houston actually has the most locations on the 2017 map with nine. But the Texas city's worst bottleneck comes in at only No. 8, one spot ahead of Atlanta's second entry on the list...
Atlanta, GA, USA - Loganville Patch, by Doug Gross - January 26, 2017

Labels: traffic jams, trucking industry news USA

Jan 8, 2016

JAM * India: Trucks' port of call hits people hard

* Chennai - A traffic jam caused by container trucks

-- When Ravikumar left his home in Madhavaram at 8 am on Wednesday to get to Minjur, little did he know that it would turn into a four- hour ordeal of sitting in his car, steaming under a particularly hot December sun... But steam he did, courtesy the snarling traffic jam brought about by the thousands of container trucks trying to enter Chennai Port... In 2014, the customs department issued a notice which said that a trailer bound to the port had to come via the container freight station and would be allowed to enter the port only after proper documentation. But the system could not be adhered to due to the indiscipline of Trailer Owners’ Association... The Chennai Port is planning to do away with the manual processing methodology to track the container system and is coming up with a Radio Frequency Identification based container tracking system. This has already been tested through the container freight station, customs and terminal operators...
(Photo by D. Sampath Kumar - A traffic jam caused by container trucks on 100 Feet Road near Manali on Wednesday) -- Port of Chennai, India - The Indian Express, by C Shivakumar and Jonathan Ananda - 31st December 2015

Labels: traffic jams

Feb 7, 2012

TRAFFIC JAMS * Australia -(looking at the cities' future ?)-

* Sydney traffic worsens as freight forwarding climbs

Sydney,NSW,Australia -Supply Chain, by Sydney Kevin Scarpati -28 Nov 2011: -- Congested roads in Sydney are likely to get worse in the near future thanks to an increase in freight forwarding... Sydney (and Australia’s eastern seaboard as a whole) has a traffic problem thanks to some of the usual factors, including an inadequate public transportation network and road works projects. That situation will only get worse once freight starts moving through Port Botany, Sydney’s third container terminal... According to Sydney Ports, freight forwarding (or trucking) traffic is expected to increase by 70 percent over the next 10 years... What’s interesting about the rise in freight forwarding numbers is the current drop in intermodal rail. The number of containers that left Port Botany by rail dipped 20 percent in the 18 months leading up to June earlier this year... According to Sydney Ports, that ratio between rail freight and freight forwarding has shifted 14 percent thanks to the rise in trucking and the fall in intermodal rail...

Labels: roads congestion, traffic jams

Nov 14, 2011

TRAFFIC JAMS * USA - Study: The Hidden Toll of

Scientists Increasingly Link Vehicle Exhaust With Brain-Cell Damage, Higher Rates of Autism

( Photo by Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)
New York,NY,USA -The Wall Street Journal, by Robert Lee Hotz -8 Nov 2011: -- Congested cities are fast becoming test tubes for scientists studying the impact of traffic fumes on the brain... As roadways choke on traffic, researchers suspect that the tailpipe exhaust from cars and trucks—especially tiny carbon particles already implicated in heart disease, cancer and respiratory ailments—may also injure brain cells and synapses key to learning and memory... Columbia University's, Frederica Perera, discusses the link between exposure to pollutants in the womb and mental impacts in children... New public-health studies and laboratory experiments suggest that, at every stage of life, traffic fumes exact a measurable toll on mental capacity, intelligence and emotional stability. "The University of Southern California who is analyzing the effects of traffic pollution on the brain health of 7,500 women in 22 states. "The human data are very new" ... So far, the evidence is largely circumstantial but worrisome, researchers say... To be sure, cars and trucks today generate one-tenth the pollution of a vehicle in 1970. Still, more people are on the road and they are stuck in traffic more often. Drivers traveling the 10-worst U.S. traffic corridors annually spend an average of 140 hours, or about the time spent in the office in a month, idling in traffic, a new analysis reported... No one knows whether regular commuters breathing heavy traffic fumes suffer any lasting brain effect. Researchers have only studied the potential impact based on where people live and where air-pollution levels are highest...

Labels: traffic jams

Sep 5, 2011

TRANSPORT POLICIES * China - Beijing plans congestion fees to ease traffic

Officials hope the charges will encourage use of public transport to ease traffic jams and reduce pollution

(China GDP slowdown, Beijing traffic, rush hour in central Beijing. Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters)

Beijing,China -Reuters/Guardian.co.uk -2 September 2011: -- Beijing plans to impose congestion fees on cars using certain roads and to encourage residents to buy alternative-energy cars to ease chronic traffic jams and cut pollution... The Chinese capital has already taken several measures to reduce traffic pressure since the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, when it began to order some vehicles off the streets on certain days depending on the licence plate numbers... That policy has not had much effect on gridlock, which has continued to deteriorate... Beijing in January began capping new car registrations at 20,000 per month, available through a lottery. But that has only slowed the pace of increased congestion, while angering tens of thousands of hopeful car owners left unable to buy a vehicle... China overtook the Unites States in 2009 as the world's largest auto market. The rapid growth of car ownership has caused traffic nightmares in major Chinese cities, with Beijing expected to have 7 million vehicles on the road by 2012...

* Report: There are now 1 billion cars on the road. The global car population only stands to grow

New York,NY,USA -The Infrastructurist, by Eric Jaffe -August 24, 2011: -- A year ago yesterday an unfortunate line of drivers in China spent their ninth straight day stuck in traffic. If the country keeps adding cars to its roads the way it did in 2010, that type of congestion might seem light... According to the auto industry researcher Ward’s, the global car population topped the 1 billion mark in 2010 — with a 27.5 percent surge in vehicle registration in China leading the way. China added nearly 17 million cars last year; it now has roughly 78 million in all and has passed Japan for the world’s No. 2 car population. China accounted for nearly half of the entire global increase of 35.6 million vehicles — the second-largest annual spike in volume ever recorded... China was far from the only country to fill its roads. India experienced the second-highest percentile growth, 8.9 percent, pushing the country past 20 million cars in operation. Brazil added 2.5 million vehicles, second most to China in volume. While registration in the United States didn’t even rise a full percentage point, America’s car total still far outpaces the pack, with a vehicle population near 240 million. U.S. cities may be reaching peak car capacity... The International Transport Forum estimates a global vehicle fleet of 2.5 billion come 2050. And the Washington Post points out, than a global car population of 2.5 billion would mean a massive increase in oil production — much of it unconventional oil that’s “significantly dirtier, from a CO2 perspective, than the traditional stuff”... Of course these estimates might be tempered by a boost in electric and hybrid models. The gas guzzlers versus plug-ins argument might be beside the point. Another billion cars on the world’s roads will crush the environment just based on emissions from auto production and infrastructure construction... But by 2050, if market trends continue, ”we could conceivably have 2 billion or even 2.5 billion cars.” Accommodating those cars will entail building new roads and new factories and spending vast amounts of energy to make shipments. All those activities will create enormous emissions on their own. So even with giant strides in clean-vehicle technology, just doubling the number of vehicles could increase the overall environmental effect by a factor of three... To say nothing of the impact on traffic...

Labels: traffic jams, transport policies

Sep 2, 2011

ANALYSIS * USA - Why the world faces a massive traffic jam

Sustainability is the biggest issue facing global business in the 21st century

Atlanta,GA,USA -CNN, by Bill Ford-June 26, 2011: ... While breakthroughs like improved battery technology will likely provide a solution to the CO2 challenge, another issue -- "Global Gridlock" -- is quietly taking its place... Global gridlock can be defined by numbers. The world's population is growing and is becoming more affluent. There are approximately 6.8 billion people in the world today. Within our lifetime, that number will approach 9 billion. Today, there are about 800 million vehicles on the road worldwide, but by midcentury that number could grow to between 2 and 4 billion... If we continue to follow the personal mobility model that is now in place, the world's roads are going to become too crowded. Commutes will become longer; traffic jams will become larger and more ubiquitous. Economic opportunity will be stifled. More time and resources will be squandered while people try to get from point A to point B. This all threatens the promises of both physical and social mobility, which in turn lessens opportunities to improve the world's standards of living... There's no single answer to this new threat to our mobility, and it isn't going to be solved by one person or group... We need smart cars and smart infrastructure that communicate with each other while using real-time data to maximize their efficiency. We also need to tie in innovative and unique solutions that in their own way address global gridlock. Some of these solutions already are already being developed...

Labels: analysis, traffic jams

May 24, 2011

GAS PRICES * USA - Study Realtors Confirm: Are Changing U.S. Housing Demand

Are you considering moving, and do gas prices have something to do with it? Or did gas prices have a role in your last move?

New York,NY,USA -The Car Connection/Nielsen Wire; Coldwell Banker via Consumerist -21 May 2011: -- The word is already out that Americans would probably be healthier (and probably a lot happier) if we had shorter daily commutes... Now it seems that the cost pressure of rising gas prices could be forcing us to do just that—rethink where we're living. If a new survey of real-estate professionals is any indication, American home shoppers are thinking more than ever about shorter driving distances and being closer to shops and services... The Coldwell Banker study found that of the 56 percent of professionals who said that more home buyers are interested in urban situations, 93 percent said that shorter commutes play a role and 81 percent thought that the desire to cut gasoline spending was a factor...

Labels: gas prices, traffic jams

Mar 2, 2011

TRAFFIC JAM * Indonesia - Thousands of trucks stuck in 11 km.

A mammoth traffic jam

Merak,Indonesia -ABC News (Australia) -1 March 2011: -- Indonesian truck drivers stuck in a massive traffic jam for more than a week say they have been forced to sell their belongings to buy food... In a graphic example of infrastructure bottlenecks in South-East Asia's biggest economy, the jam stretches for 11 kilometres and has ensnared some 2,000 trucks... It has choked the flow of goods by road and ferry from Merak port in west Java to Bakauheni port in south-east Sumatra, a crossing that should take less than three hours but has stranded some drivers since February 21... Indonesia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with output expected to top 6 per cent this year... Yet it is befuddled by red tape, mired in corruption, and its ports, roads and airports are hopelessly inadequate for the pace of growth it hopes to sustain in coming years, according to investors and analysts... The government last year announced plans to spend almost $137 billion on infrastructure until 2014, more than half of which would have to come from the private sector... As for truck drivers at Merak, officials said three extra ferries had been dispatched to clear the jam... Eight of 30 ferries plying the route were docked for repairs, the spokesman explained... (Photo from AFP, by Bay Ismoyo: In limbo: Truck drivers rest beside their trucks in the mammoth traffic jam)

Labels: traffic jams

Oct 9, 2010

High-tech * USA - Traffic 'forecasts' coming to N.J. early in '11

Trenton,NJ,USA -Courier Post On Line, by MIKE FRASSINELLI -4 Oct 2010: ... Motorists on the state's New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, will be provided high-tech traffic "forecasts" to alert them about potential bottlenecks before they happen. Using complex computer models that have been said to predict traffic flows with up to 93 percent accuracy, the Turnpike Authority plans to put its new "Traffic Prediction Tool" into use early next year... Drivers would see the forecasts on existing highway message signs or via e-mail or text. Motorists get real-time alerts now, but the traffic forecast has the ability to predict congestion before it happens, based on traffic patterns detected by transponders and road sensors, as well as historical traffic patterns... The highway agency has already run live models of the forecasts, with encouraging results... The technology is already in use in Singapore and Stockholm... A Traffic Management Center in Woodbridge already serves as the headquarters for regional traffic information for the Turnpike, Parkway, state Department of Transportation and two divisions of the State Police... The traffic forecast would build on data collected at the center, possibly providing -- like a weather forecast -- color-coded models based on congestion levels. Green roadways would mean a delay of five minutes. Green with yellow would mean 10 minutes. Yellow with a lot of red would mean 15 minutes... (Photo from t2.gstatic: A NJ's traffic jam)

* USA - More cities turn to solar power for traffic signs

Brown Deer,WIS,USA -The USA TODAY, by Sherry P. Shephard -9 Oct 2010: -- Growing numbers of cities and towns are turning to solar-powered road warning and school safety signs to inform the public and save money and energy... In the past year, cities including Baton Rouge, Branson and Kansas City, Mo., and Lyndhurst, Wayne and Ringwood, N.J., have adopted the technology, officials in those municipalities say... Rick Bergholz, owner of TAPCO, a Wisconsin-based company that manufactures and sells the environmentally friendly traffic controls, says solar-powered light "sales have been exploding" ... "They've been around since their inception 10 years ago, but it took years to perfect the product and to get approval," Bergholz says. TAPCO's website lists Fort Worth, Tucson and Richfield Township in Ohio among other solar signal clients ... (Photo from USA today, by Henrietta Wildsmith - A speed limit sign in Shreveport, La., has four small corner lights that flash, powered by a solar panel on top)

Labels: traffic jams

Jul 2, 2009

Traffic Jam * USA - Seeking an End to the Era

IBM Long Island executive, James Houlihan, writes that Long Islanders are resigned to traffic jams ...

New York,NY,USA -Newsday, by James Houlihan -18 June 2009: -- ... This is a mistake, considering the vast sums of money traffic adds up to in lost revenue and increased operating costs for businesses, as indicated in one report... He points to the intersection of digital and physical infrastructures as a critical step toward solving the traffic crisis... Houlihan notes that Singaporean highway officials gather traffic data from global positioning system devices in taxis and from tiny sensors incorporated in the roadway, and use this data to anticipate traffic jams and reroute the flow of vehicles. Meanwhile, city planners in Kyoto simulate large-scale traffic scenarios and analyze their impact, and the system can optimize traffic signals to reduce jams and more accurately predict how community traffic will be affected by a new shopping mall or traffic regulation. Houlihan mentions Long Island's INFORM highway traffic monitoring system, which supplies motorists on major roads information about current traffic conditions. "INFORM could serve as the foundation of a system with true predictive capabilities--one that enables authorities to notify drivers in advance of likely tie-ups," he writes. "The system could even suggest alternate routes tailored to individual drivers"... (Photo from dreamstime: Traffic jam in Los Angeles)

* Reducing Congestion by Building Up

New York,NY,USA -The New York Times -8 June 2009: -- Most crowded U.S. urban centers still have congested roads, even with other modes of transportation available, and encouraging ideas like bicycles can sometimes exacerbate conditions by reducing existing lanes, according to a commentary from Rafael Viñoly Architects... The firm recommends building upward with an electric pod-car concept, complete with elevated track and designated stations for the one- or two-person electric vehicles. "A system of loops throughout the city serves zones where traffic density is highest," the firm writes. "The total number of passengers carried by all modes of transportation, including the subway, thus increases by approximately 18 percent; carbon emissions decrease by as much as 30 percent."

(Auto Image: 1. G.P.S. audio navigational system. 2. Portal for electricity, provided by elevated track)...In addition, the elevated track, which they call the Upway, can also carry public utilities such as streetlights, telecommunication, and air filters, while providing passengers with unique city views...

Labels: traffic jams

Jan 22, 2009

TRAFFIC TROUBLES * USA - Channahon truck stop is a nightmare

Channahon,ILL,USA -The Joliet Herald News (Joliet,IL), by JEANNE MILLSAP -January 22, 2009: -- Joe Cook says in all his years of being on the village board, first as trustee and now as village president, there's never been an issue residents have been more vocal about than the traffic jams around the Pilot Travel Center on Route 6, just east of Interstate 55... The village says the backups are the direct result of semi-trucks stacking at Pilot, then having difficulty making the left-hand turns back onto Route 6 to get back on the interstate.... Pilot asks for more: On Monday, a representative from Pilot, Bill Mulligan, asked trustees to approve an additional three diesel pumps at the center, a truck scale, and 40 more truck parking stalls... Village Trustee Scott Slocum has been drawing a hard line on the travel center, asking fellow board members for the past couple of board meetings to approve a resolution for the Illinois Department of Transportation to erect a "right-in, right-out only" sign at the Pilot, forcing trucks to exit right onto Route 6 and drive east to Houbolt Road, where they would access I-80 back to I-55... (Photo by Liz Wilkinson - A semi-trailer driver turns left (west) out of the Pilot gas station onto Route 6 near the Interstate 55 interchange in Channahon on

Labels: traffic jams

Jan 22, 2008

Traffic Congestion Solutions * Australia - Sought for Melbourne's one

Melbourne,Victoria,Australia -ABC News -22 Jan 2008: -- A meeting between transport stakeholders and the Victorian Government today is exploring short term measures to ease Melbourne's traffic congestion... The Victorian Premier John Brumby says the group won't discuss long term measures such as the proposed tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway to CityLink... But he says a number of other ideas are being explored... (Photo from ABC TV: The meeting is aimed at cutting traffic congestion in Melbourne)

Labels: traffic jams

Jan 10, 2008

TRAFFIC ALERT * USA - Brush fire, fog cause fatal 50-car pile-up on I-4 in Florida

About 50 cars and trucks crashed on a highway blanketed by fog and smoke from a brush fire Wednesday, and authorities said at least three people were killed

Lakeland,FL,USA -The Trucker/The Associated Press -9 Jan 2008: -- ... A stretch of nearly 15 miles of Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando was closed by several accidents, including the 50-car pileup. Aerial footage showed the soupy mix of fog and smoke covering the landscape for miles and giving the sky an eerie golden color... The poor visibility forced rescuers to walk along the closed interstate checking individual vehicles for injured motorists, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Larry Coggins said. The conditions cleared in late morning, showing mangled, charred trucks and cars pinned underneath some tractor trailers... (Video from YouTube, by jessicariggs1 - January 09, 2008: "INTERSTATE 4 70 CAR PILE UP IN SMOKE FOG ")

* More mountain snow forecast in Washington

Seattle,WASH,USA -The Associated Press/The Trucker -9 Jan 2008 — The forecast of more mountain snow is likely to affect driving through the Cascade passes through the end of the week... The National Weather Service expects another strong front on Thursday and a weaker one on Saturday... Forecasters have issued a winter storm watch for the Cascades through Thursday evening... (Photo from WSDOTA - Webcam view of Washington's Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90, taken early Wednesday morning)

Labels: traffic jams

Oct 4, 2007

IDEAS for Traffic Problems * USA - A fix for LA 's. Politicians dont want you to know.

LA,CAL,USA -LAvoice.org -3 Oct 2007: -- ... The trucking industry explains that they have the same rights to the roads as other drivers, that the state and the nation is dependant on them and that commercial products need to be transported and delivered being an essential part of our economy. This is all true, but deliveries times to any economic sector could be altered and moved to non-busy hours, such as very early mornings and very late nights. The businesses would be made to accommodate these off-hours deliveries. There could be no arguments and reasons against this simple solution. By implementing these rules, traffic will be reduced by 50 and probably as high as 65%. The reaped rewards as a result, would be worth millions to all, including better living conditions, mental health, increased productivity, less smog and unhealthy air, less oil usage, and for the best part, a much nicer and gentler citizenry…

Labels: traffic jams

Jun 13, 2007

Roads are jammed... * Montenegro - ... and there is no solution

For Montenegro it is characteristic that traffic jams occur in circles, during the period of the tourist season - At that time on roads there are five to seven time more vehicles then during the rest of the year

Podgorica,Montenegro –Visit Montenegro , by M. Babovic, B. Batizic -12 Jun 2007: -- The traffic jams before and during the season, will not miss Montenegro this year too... The institutions that are in authority are already getting prepared for the impact, because they claim that that chronic issue can only be partially solved... The police has, according to the words of the main inspector of the department for safety of traffic in the Management of the police Dragan Klikovac, already made a plan of measures and activities before the up coming tourist season in order to try to increase the safety of all participants in traffic, as well as to reduce blockage of roads towards the sea...

Labels: traffic jams

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Jan 29, 2017

TRAFFIC JAMS * USA: Atlanta, the worst

Jan 8, 2016

JAM * India: Trucks' port of call hits people hard

Feb 7, 2012

TRAFFIC JAMS * Australia -(looking at the cities' future ?)-

Nov 14, 2011

TRAFFIC JAMS * USA - Study: The Hidden Toll of

Sep 5, 2011

TRANSPORT POLICIES * China - Beijing plans congestion fees to ease traffic

Sep 2, 2011

ANALYSIS * USA - Why the world faces a massive traffic jam

May 24, 2011

GAS PRICES * USA - Study Realtors Confirm: Are Changing U.S. Housing Demand

Mar 2, 2011

TRAFFIC JAM * Indonesia - Thousands of trucks stuck in 11 km.

Oct 9, 2010

High-tech * USA - Traffic 'forecasts' coming to N.J. early in '11

Jul 2, 2009

Traffic Jam * USA - Seeking an End to the Era

Jan 22, 2009

TRAFFIC TROUBLES * USA - Channahon truck stop is a nightmare

Jan 22, 2008

Traffic Congestion Solutions * Australia - Sought for Melbourne's one

Jan 10, 2008

TRAFFIC ALERT * USA - Brush fire, fog cause fatal 50-car pile-up on I-4 in Florida

Oct 4, 2007

IDEAS for Traffic Problems * USA - A fix for LA 's. Politicians dont want you to know.

Jun 13, 2007

Roads are jammed... * Montenegro - ... and there is no solution