Despite the news that traffic congestion wasted nearly 2.9 billion gallons of fuel in 2011, fuel savings were achieved due to efforts to combat congestion. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, public transportation was responsible for a savings of 450 million gallons of fuel in 2011. High-occupancy vehicle lanes, combined with other operational treatments, contributed another 194 million gallons to fuel savings. Operational treatments include the coordination of traffic signals, freeway ramp metering, freeway incident management, and arterial street access management.

Fuel Saved Due to Methods of Alleviating Congestion
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Supporting Information

Fuel Saved Due to Methods of Alleviating Congestion
YearOperational Treatments and
High-Occupancy Vehicle Lanes
Public Transportation
19821204
19834208
19847219
19859235
198612229
198716236
198821289
198925314
199029317
199131317
199235310
199340305
199444318
199551340
199659354
199767365
199876392
199987418
2000116431
2001131450
2002148461
2003169456
2004186486
2005198493
2006220519
2007223546
2008185478
2009188459
2010192445
2011194450
Note: Operational treatments include Freeway incident management, freeway ramp metering, arterial street signal coordination, arterial street access management.
Public Transportation—Regular route service from all public transportation providers in an urban area.
Texas Transportation Institute, 2012 Urban Mobility Report, December 2012.

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