Method Research on Measuring the External Costs of Urban Traffic Congestion

A main reason for congestion pricing is the external cost of congestion. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the external costs that the urban traffic congestion brings are the basis of congestion pricing. First, this paper analyzes the production mechanism of urban traffic congestion: travelers overlook the negative externality of urban traffic congestion and then join the congested queues. Then, the external costs of traffic congestion are divided into four parts: extra travel time costs, environmental pollution costs, traffic accident costs, and fuel consumption costs. Consequently, an intensive study on the quantitative measurements for those four external costs is made. Also, a sample case is introduced to prove the feasibility of this method. It supplies a base for the implement of urban road congestion pricing and other travel demand management strategies.