Us Business Is A ‘Prisoner' of Congestion

Published
Boston, MA - Are goods and people in our country becoming "prisoners of congestion"? How much are the economy and our collective standard of living suffering because our leaders can't find solutions to the congestion question?

These questions and more are addressed by Glen Weisbrod and Steve Fitzroy in their latest paper - Defining the Range of Urban Congestion Impacts on Freight and their Consequences for Business Activity - presented at the Transportation Research Board's Annual Conference in Washington D.C.

"Congestion is slowly strangling our economy - and we've simply got to find ways to defeat it. It's a key front in the economic battle to maintain and increase our standard of living", Dr. Fitzroy said yesterday.

"The first step is to focus in on the root causes of congestion and situations where it has the most damaging impacts on the economy of local areas," Mr. Weisbrod added. The authors have developed a systematic way of identifying how businesses have coped with congestion - and why it is now becoming harder to overcome the barriers that congested transport systems create.

Weisbrod and Fitzroy, Boston-based economists from the consulting firm of Economic Development Research Group, Inc., specialize in transportation and economic development. The firm is a leader in developing state-of-the-art evaluation and analysis tools that are brought to bear on many areas of public concern, including the congestion that is clogging our roads, railroads, airports and seaports.

Mr. Weisbrod explained that "We can never eliminate all traffic congestion, but we do have to think smart and act strategically to prevent the strangling of critical facilities and industries that drive economic competitiveness. With sufficient attention, resources and use of available analysis tools, progress can be made to accomplish that goal." The full text of their article is available online: www.edrgroup.com/congestion.html

About the authors: Glen Weisbrod is the President of Economic Development Research Group. He is a nationally recognized thought leader and practitioner in economic development assessment, specializing particularly in transportation investment evaluation.

Stephen Fitzroy has more than thirty years of experience working with federal, state, regional and local transportation and economic development agencies. His expertise is in the economic analysis of freight transportation and trade.

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For further information and interview requests, please contact EDR Group.