Dear Scott Mavers I believe the response is "Not systematically!"

The poor planning from urban design perspective encompasses several factors such as the size of the blocks, the percentage of public open spaces, whether the planing gives priority to pedestrians life or for cars ...etc

It could be said due to poor planning in the past. I think planners in that region are thinking about ways to mitigate traffic congestion. Planning cannot do perfect forecast for the future; nor can it provide perfect solution to a present problem. Planning and the market jointly contribute to traffic congestion; any solution also depends on both of them.

Yes. Poor city planning is advertently or inadvertently ignoring the potentials of a city, especially growth when planning and development of city's infrastructure such as road. This can results in:

1. Having lane instead of two more

2. Roundabout instead of ovehead bridge

3. Installation of traffic light instead of dual carriage way or overhead bridge or vice versa among other similar errors.

When any of these occur, traffic jam is inevitable.

Dear

I think that the land use is changing, that is why big construction is going on. Hi

In my view, gridlock, as you call it, will occur when demand exceeds link capacity, and some streets are so congested that they begin to block other throughways etc. While it is perhaps a more fundamental problem about how to manage demand (shift to transit? ride share? work-from-home?) the planner has some role in trying to match capacity to demand. I certainly sympathize with you if your formerly quiet town has new demand that exceeds the capacity of the infrastructure. But I suggest that this is a problem that pales by comparison to the situation in some dense developing cities.

This excellent dashboard allows a view of extreme conditions:

https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/traffic-index/mumbai-traffic/

Extreme examples of congestion produce very difficult and perhaps intractable planning problems. Many social scientists would advocate against attempting to build more capacity and would advocate demand management.

Most of the times, the source of the problem is urban or regional planning. If you have many housing developments in one area and shops as well as jobs far away, you will run into transportation issues. Transportation planners then are the last in the row that have to cope with theses problems and sometimes they run out of options based on the given circumstances.

I personally believe that grid locks occur when the alternative routes and links are overwhelmed. Solutions would be introduction of links and alternative means of transportation such as train.

Transportation problems (like congestion) don't always have transportation solutions. Congestion is often a function of poor land use decisions. In the early 1900s, streets in major cities were very congested. Planners believed that spreading development out, at lower densities, would alleviate this problem. And, while the street in the middle of a dense city will inevitably be more congested than a rural street, the highest levels of congestion are often found in suburban areas where discontinuous, low-density, single-use development make walking, cycling and transit difficult (if not impossible). In these places, an automobile is required for almost every activity outside the home. And cars take up enormous amounts of space when parked and even more when in motion.

Discontinuous, low-density, single-use development (urban sprawl) is the result of several key factors:

* Zoning and other land development regulations (land use planning)

* Economic incentives (embedded in both taxes and fees)

* Infrastructure investment decisions (infrastructure planning & budgeting)

* Racial bigotry and fear of integrated schools

Better planning could resolve some, but not all of these issues. In terms of economic incentives, distance- and congestion-based roadway user fees, performance-based parking fees, and replacing the traditional property tax with land value return fees would be helpful policies. Information about property tax reform can be found at "Financing Infrastructure with Value Capture: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" at https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2018/2/20/financing-infrastructure-with-value-capture-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/ .

Resolving problems associated with racial bigotry will require an intentional combination of counseling, self-reflection and action.

The factors that may foster traffic jams in cities are the maximum vehicle capacity of the road, the decrease in the number of lanes, the number of vehicles and their concentration during specific hours of the day, an increase of heavy vehicles (such as trucks), certain road infrastructures such as curves or roundabouts (where the speed of the vehicle must be reduced), possible accidents, and other elements more related to the human factor, such as aggressive driving (with multiple stop-and-goes and abrupt braking).

In this sense, when mobility is highly impaired, certain measures can be applied to favor movements through public transportation and shared vehicles, as well as on foot or by bike if the trip is short.

I agree, globally to what the other participants said.

I would add that, even with a strict city planning devoted to minimize transport costs, the residents of a city belong to a culture. US citizens, particularly in the West, like to drive. What is needed for having low externalities of commuting is, for the US, a radical change of culture. Anyway, it is necessary for mitigating the effect of car-dependancy on climate change. I know it will be difficult because of one century of addiction to the car, , but Electric vehicles are only a temporary solution, even with atomic energy. The main question is not a waste of time for travellers but a culure that the USA can't afford anay longer, given their wordwide responsibility.

Yes this happens a lot in our towns and cities as the traffic and development exceed the road network capacity heads traffic jams.

Those jams are well known in advance. They are the result of dispersing people into suburbs, and it must be stopped. People want to meet others and not be thrown away.