The Federal Highway Administration states that US automobile traffic on our highways has been growing by about four percent each year. The current annual level is two trillion vehicle miles per year. Some projections forecast that travel will increase to four trillion vehicle miles by 2020. With our current highway system, congestion delays will increase by 400 percent.

This is a concern because the loss of US productivity due to traffic jams is estimated to be $100 billion annually. This waste threatens our ability to compete competitively in the global market. Traffic jams also increase tension levels, which increases the level of crimes occurring on our highways.