TMfS provides a capability to calculate and map future traffic congestion, to assist in users’ understanding of current and future congestion hotspots.

In the application of our program, congestion is defined as ‘Vehicle hours lost traveling slower than free flow speeds’. As traffic builds up on the network, the capacity restraint results in slower travel times on a link-by-link basis. This link-based measure of congestion is therefore a combination of the delays per vehicle and the number of vehicles experiencing these delays.

In addition, these link-based delays can then be amalgamated using user-defined grid squares, to enable mapping and analysis of area-based congestion.