Causes Of New York Traffic

By Leslie Ball


The city of New York is densely populated. It is among the biggest and the most densely populated cities in the world. When in this city expect to find lots of movements of people, trains, motor, vehicles motorcycles and bicycles . You may also on some occasion see tricycles and animals such as dogs and cats. Carts are another means of transport of goods that you may see. All these movements are the causes of New York traffic.

Traffic basically refers to the no number of vehicles peoples or carts or animals that are moving from one direction to another. When these numbers exceed a certain limit, movement is hindered. This means that some vehicles or people may have to stop to allow others to move. When one car stops for example the one behind it must wait for it to start moving so it can also move.

The superhighways of the City are large some with as much as six to seven lanes. You would therefore be surprised to still see road jams with all these roads. When there is always more vehicles getting into the road than there are that are leaving jams are experienced. So among many other reasons these jams are experienced not only because of highway lanes.

If for example an accident was to occur or an incident in the middle of the road, then definitely traffic will result. So you can say that incidents or accidents cause traffic jams. But the reserve is also true in that road jams also results to accidents. In that case drivers are forced to use brake often to avoid collisions. These accidents may cause several lanes to be closed.

Due to its populace the city is constantly experiencing new developments. Roads are being newly built and also being expanded too. This is to meet the demands of an ever increasing vehicle capacity. The roads are sometimes being repaired or maintained. All these works may cause road disruptions. The motorists are re-directed to other lanes or roads to give room for these works.

The City also experiences adverse weather conditions. Like heavy downpour or snowfall. Drivers are compelled to drive slow and cautiously. The roads are slippery and the view is unclear. Due to this they spend more time on the road hence consuming more fuel. The cost of travel also goes high during such a time. When a police officer is booking a motorist for a traffic offense may also cause a road jam.

The New York City authority has been trying to look at various ways to reduce road jams. The fundamental principle is that the supply must meet demand. This means that the roads available must be able to support the available vehicles. Road networks are very expensive and long term and continuous process.

There are several ways that are in use in other cities that can be employed in NY to reduce jams. This methods include, ramp metering whereby cars are allowed to enter roads at timed intervals. This has been showed to increase traffic speeds and lower accidents. The other is allocation of specific lanes to vehicles with high occupancy.




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