Citation

Bone AJ. Highw. Res. Board Proc. 1939; 1939.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1939, National Research Council (U.S.A.), Highway Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

During the spring of 1939, 130 determinations of line consumption and travel time were made on 5.46 miles of streets in downtown Boston using a 1934 Ford sedan for the test car. The runs were made at sufficient intervals to obtain a representative sample of traffic conditions throughout the busy hours (7 a.m. to 7 p.m.) of a typical weekday. Other tests were made on Sunday mornings when no congestion was present. The results of these latter tests when compared with the weekday tests served to indicate the increases in gasoline consumption caused by traffic delays. These tests indicated that under ordinary conditions a driver will require about seven minutes to travel a mile; spending two and one-half minutes in traffic stops, one and one-half minute in first or second gear, and three minutes in high gear. Four to five complete stops will be required in each mile, averaging one-half minute per stop. These stops and other traffic interruptions will cause an increase of about 50 percent in gasoline consumption over that required if no congestion were present. The average gasoline consumption for the test car was 12.1 miles per gallon in city traffic and 18.2 miles per gallon without traffic interference. Assuming that all vehicles experience the same proportional increase in gasoline consumption as found for the test car, and with gasoline at 16 cents per gallon, the additional cost for gasoline caused by the traffic delays amounts to about $18,000 per mile per year for the routes tested.