2023-2024 Congestion Management Report

This report features traffic data from 2022. Major findings of the report include:

• Congestion and unreliable conditions are worse in the afternoon peak period (4-6 p.m.) than in the morning peak period (7-9 a.m.).
• Overall, the percent of uncongested and reliable miles on the CMN decreased in both the a.m. and p.m. peak periods compared to pre-COVID pandemic 2019 metrics which means that congestion and reliability on the CMN are worsening over time.
• However, all historical commuting corridors saw a decrease in congestion in the a.m. and p.m. peak periods. This suggests that growth in congestion and unreliability is occurring outside of these historical commuting corridors.
• Kansas City commuters in 2022 experienced less delay compared to commuters in most of the other peer metros.

Traffic congestion is a common experience for drivers and passengers in the Kansas City metro region and all over the world. While the worst congestion is always the congestion you are stuck in, it is worthwhile to look at what data shows us about where congestion is located and how severe it is. Whether you are a city official deciding how to prioritize transportation investments, or a new resident trying to figure out how to avoid the worst traffic jams, the data contained in this report will give you helpful insight.

The  Mid-America Regional Council (MARC)  is the council of governments and metropolitan planning organization for the Kansas City metro area. This report is part of MARC's  Congestion Management Process , which seeks to identify congestion and remedy it through various systemic, structural and multimodal strategies.

Congestion has many causes that fit into two categories:

• Recurring congestion: when too many vehicles try to occupy the same roadway at predictable times of day, usually at the beginning and end of a typical workday.

• Non-recurring congestion: caused by a temporary blockage in the roadway or difficulty navigating the roadway. It is often caused by disruptions such as a traffic incident or inclement weather. While non-recurring congestion may not be unexpected, it does not repeat in the same way that recurring congestion does. We refer to non-recurring congestion in this report as "unreliability."

This report shows probe data (data collected from mobile GPS-enabled devices) for the year 2022. This data is used to generate four performance measures:

• Travel Time Index (TTI)
• Planning Time Index (PTI)
• Level of Travel Time Reliability (LOTTR)
• Truck Travel Time Reliability

A more detailed review of data sources and methodology for the report can be found in the  Technical Appendix .

The Congestion Management Network (CMN) is a series of roadways in the Kansas City region that were selected for an increased focus on traffic congestion. All interstates and National Highway System (NHS) routes are included, along with some major (arterial) roadways and some important public transit routes.

The map on the right shows the routes that are included in the CMN as of 2023. As you view the data in the following interactive maps, please be aware that traffic data, obtained from traffic data firm HERE, was not available for all segments of the CMN, and there will be some gaps in the data compared to the network. Please also note that the display of data on each side of the state line will be different due to differences in sourcing the data. For more details, see the  Technical Appendix .

Before viewing the interactive maps that show where congestion and unreliability occur, here are some statistics for how the different roadway networks monitored for congestion perform as a whole.

In 2022, the percent of uncongested and reliable miles on the CMN decreased in both the a.m. and p.m. peak periods compared to pre-COVID pandemic 2019 metrics. This suggests that congestion and unreliability are worsening over time. However, the majority of the CMN that MARC monitors is still uncongested and reliable.

The map below shows congestion levels on the CMN. This congestion is recurring, and it is measured using the Travel Time Index (TTI). This index is the ratio of the average travel time for a segment of roadway to the free-flow travel time for that segment. If a roadway segment has a TTI of 1.50, it takes 50 percent more time to travel across that segment than it does in free-flow conditions.

The map shows different colors for different levels of congestion severity: yellow-orange for moderate congestion and red for severe congestion. Note in the map's legend that highways have different moderate and severe congestion thresholds than non-highways, or "major roadways". The map depicts the difference between morning peak period congestion (7-9 a.m.) and afternoon peak period congestion (4-6 p.m.) through a slider you can drag across the map from right to left and back again. Try zooming in and clicking on roadway segments to see exactly how congested they are!

Congestion in the Kansas City metro area is most prevalent on highways and tends to take one of two forms: congestion in commute directions from downtown Kansas City, Mo. (KCMO), and bidirectional congestion. In the morning, congestion can generally be seen on westbound I-70 and I-435 in Missouri, northbound US-71 west of Swope Park, east-and westbound I-670, southbound I-29/I-35, and southbound US-169 coming into Kansas City, Mo. from North Kansas City. In the afternoon, it can be generally seen on eastbound I-70 in Missouri, southbound I-49/US-71, northbound I-29/I-35, and east-and westbound I-670, I-435, and MO-152.

Congestion is worse on major roadways in the afternoon compared to the morning. In central KCMO, this is relevant for the operation of important transit routes. The KC Streetcar currently navigates moderate congestion along Main Street while routes 31 and 39 navigate moderate-to-severe congestion along their east-west routes.

Non-recurring congestion, or unreliability, is measured by the Planning Time Index (PTI). This index shows the ratio of the 95th percentile travel time to the free-flow travel time for a roadway segment. This means, for a PTI of 2.00, a motorist should plan on scheduling twice the free-flow travel time to cross the segment in order to arrive on time on most days. Doing so would account for most irregular events that cause congestion. The map below shows reliability for the morning peak period of 7-9 a.m. on the left side, and for the afternoon peak period of 4-6 p.m. on the right. Click on a segment to view its PTI rating.

Unreliability occurs in many of the same general areas where congestion occurs. Highways are unreliable in some typical commute directions, with unreliability more severe in the afternoons. On the major roadways on the Kansas side, unreliability is often found around highway interchanges. In Missouri, unreliability on major roadways is found within the downtown KCMO loop, in midtown along 31st and 39th St., along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and in the vicinity of Country Club Plaza on Ward Parkway, Roanoke Parkway, Belleview Ave, and 47th St., among other places.

MARC has done three previous travel time studies in the past decade that allow us to track congestion levels between data sets. This offers an idea of whether congestion has increased overall for commuters, particularly those who travel from outer suburbs. The charts below show the TTI analyses for whole corridors leading into downtown KCMO. They cover the data years of 2010, 2012, 2017 and 2019. For more details on the corridors and data, please see the  Technical Appendix .

All Missouri commuting corridors saw a decrease in a.m. peak period congestion and fell below the uncongested level threshold. Congestion on I-35 northbound in Kansas decreased by 10% but is still categorized as having moderate congestion. I-70 eastbound congestion in Kansas slightly increased by approximately 4% but still remains at an uncongested level.

MARC analyzed data to find the TTI of major commuting corridors in the afternoon peak period using the same methods but examined the opposite direction, leading away from downtown KCMO.

All commuting corridors saw a decrease in congestion in the p.m. peak period. I-29/US-169 northbound and I-70 westbound remain relatively uncongested. Congestion for US-69 southbound peaked in 2019 but decreased congestion by 11% in 2022. I-35 southbound in Kansas is relatively the highest congested commuting corridor and remains at severe levels of congestion.

MARC has initiated new work to identify traffic bottlenecks throughout the region. At a high-level, bottlenecks are locations on the roadway where conditions have fallen below a certain percent of the reference speed for an extended period of time.

For this report, MARC utilized HERE probe data and a Weighted Base Impact calculation of Total Delay to rank the top four bottleneck segments between the following locations on the Missouri side of the Kansas City region:

1. E. Truman Rd. S at Oak St., KCMO to I-35 N Off-ramp (KCMO)
2. Fifth Street between Wyandotte St. and Tracy Ave. (KCMO)
3. E. Truman Rd. N at I-35/I-670/I-70Alt/Exit 2U to Oak Street and E. Truman Rd. from U.S. 71 off-ramp to Benton Blvd. (KCMO)
4. I-35 N from on-ramp near state line to 20th St./Exit 1 (KCMO)
5. MO-152 W @ I-35/US-69 (Liberty, MO)

The top four bottleneck segments had a Total Delay value equal to or greater than 100 million, and the bottleneck in Liberty, MO had a Total Delay value of nearly 93 million. While the approach MARC used to identify traffic bottlenecks for 2022 is the most efficient approach of those explored, one current limitation is inability to rank bottlenecks on the Kansas side of the region.  Identification of these bottlenecks will be an important part of future work.

Under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the Federal Highway Administration requires designated organizations like MARC to track certain performance measurements of the roadway system. These measures include:

• Percent of person-miles traveled on the Interstate that are reliable
• Percent of person-miles traveled on the non-interstate NHS that are reliable
• Truck Travel Time Reliability Index

Find historical data for these measures in  MARC's Performance Measures Report . The data is also mapped below.

The Level of Travel Time Reliability (LOTTR) has the same purpose as the Planning Time Index — it is a measure of non-recurring congestion. However, it is calculated differently than the PTI: it is the 80th percentile travel time over the 50th percentile travel time. In the data provided to MARC, it is also aggregated over the whole year, instead of focusing on peak periods. The results will look different — sometimes much different — than the results calculated using the PTI. See below for the 2022 analysis, which you can compare through the slider on the map. The network portrayed is not the CMN, but instead consists mostly of the National Highway System.

The 2022 results show the largest stretches of poor reliability along U.S. 40 in Blue Springs, I-35 in Merriam and Kansas City, Ks., and highways within downtown Kansas City, Mo. Of additional note is poor reliability in some low-density areas, including MO-92 at Kearney, Platte City, and Leavenworth and MO-291 north of Harrisonville.

The Truck Travel Time Reliability (TTTR) Index is yet another measure of non-recurring congestion, but it centers around reliability for freight traffic. It is measured by the ratio of the 95th percentile travel time over the 50th percentile travel time, and is only recorded on the Interstate Highway System. The ratios are not measured for peak periods, but instead for the whole year for a given segment. See below for the 2022 analysis.

In 2022, truck travel time reliability was poor along stretches of I-70 in Missouri, I-35 in Kansas, I-435 and I-29 from its juncture with I-35 south to Kansas City, Mo. I-29 displayed fair to good reliability north of its juncture with I-35. Truck travel time reliability was also generally fair or good along the majority of I-70 in Kansas, and along the remaining portions of the National Highway System.

Although congestion and unreliability on the overall network are slightly worsening over time, as noted in the Systemwide Statistics section above, comparing the Kansas City region to similar regions across the U.S. offers context. When we examine the hours of delay per auto commuter for the Kansas City metro and for peer metro areas defined by  KC Rising , Kansas City commuters experienced less delay compared to commuters in most of the other peer metros. Only Indianapolis commuters experienced less congestion. For methods on this analysis, please see the  Technical Appendix .

When traffic incidents block the roadway, they cause non-recurring congestion.  Kansas City Scout , a bistate roadway monitoring system for the Kansas City region, tracks the amount of time it takes to clear traffic incidents. The chart below shows the amount of time it takes to clear an incident on either side of the state line. The faster an incident is cleared, the sooner the non-recurring congestion will be relieved.

The chart shows no discernable pattern in the time it takes to clear traffic incidents. Time of year does not appear to factor into clearance time. Generally, motorists can count on incidents being cleared a few minutes faster on average in Missouri compared to Kansas.

This report measures congestion and unreliability, shows where it occurs, and how severe it is by location. So how is it being addressed? These efforts have a regional scale or outlook.

 Operation Green Light  (OGL) is a cooperative effort, housed under MARC, to improve the coordination of traffic signals and incident response on major routes throughout the Kansas City area. This helps reduce unnecessary delays, improves traffic flow and reduces emissions that contribute to ozone pollution. Many of OGL's designated routes and traffic signals are located on the CMN as shown on the map below.

 Kansas City Scout  is the region's bistate traffic management system, jointly run by the Kansas and Missouri departments of transportation. The organization manages traffic on 300 miles of continuous freeways. Scout helps monitor traffic with sensors and cameras. When delays happen due to incidents, slowdowns and severe weather, Scout sends alerts, notifies motorists on the road through freeway message signs and contacts emergency response operators.

As the metropolitan planning organization for the Kansas City region, MARC is responsible for regional transportation planning and the distribution of federal funds to transportation projects around the region. The following documents structure this process as it relates congestion management.

• The Congestion Management Process Policy provides a framework for how MARC's activities will address the federal congestion management requirements. The policy supports adding capacity only on corridors that are congested, and that congestion cannot be mitigated by non-capacity strategies from the Congestion Management Toolbox. Projects must incorporate travel demand and operational strategies in project development and must commit to implementing them.

• The Congestion Management Toolbox Update is a report that lists actions to take to mitigate congestion. A wide array of strategies are offered in categories such as access management, active transportation, land use, parking, travel demand management, transit and more. It also evaluates three congestion-mitigating projects and includes interviews of local stakeholders.

•  Connected KC 2050 , the Kansas City metro’s regional transportation plan, serves as a blueprint for managing the region’s transportation system. Required by the federal government, this plan identifies transportation improvements for the next 30 years. MARC is required to update the regional transportation plan every five years. Congestion management, particularly when pursued using strategies in categories such as transit or active transportation, benefits Connected KC 2050's policy goals. Transportation improvements submitted by the various public organizations for inclusion in the plan are scored on a number of criteria, one of which is congestion management. Including congestion management strategies as part of a project increases the chance that a project will be included in the plan. Projects can draw from the Congestion Management Toolbox Update to identify congestion management strategies.

• Projects listed in Connected KC 2050 may also be included in the  Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) , the region's list of projects with identified funding to be implemented over the next five years. TIP projects are scored on many of the same criteria as projects considered for Connected KC 2050, including congestion management.

One way to reduce congestion involves the region's residents meeting their travel needs using modes other than privately driven automobiles. Public transportation, bicycling and walking are all modes that consume less public street space than cars do, which is especially relevant during peak periods. They may also have other appealing benefits, such as increased exercise and money saved from less driving. MARC maintains several plans focused on these alternative modes of travel.

•  Smart Moves 3.0  is the Kansas City region’s 20-year plan for transit and mobility. It envisions a mobility landscape that includes efficient, high-ridership transit service linked by well-located mobility hubs where riders can transfer from one fixed route to another or connect with mobility services to get where they need to go.

• The  Kansas City Regional Bikeway Plan  evaluates current conditions and discusses gaps and barriers that exist in the bikeway system today. It envisions a cohesive regional network of bikeways connected across city, county and state boundaries, that promotes active transportation.

• The  Regional Pedestrian Policy Plan  suggests a number of actions that local governments can take to make walking a more viable mode of transportation in the region.

• The Complete Streets Handbook serves as an introduction to the concept of complete streets, which are streets that are accessible to users of all legal modes along the roadway. It provides a guide to complete streets policies and implementation and includes examples, including several from cities in the Kansas City region.

• The  Kansas City Area Curbside Management Resource and Guide  is not concerned with a specific mode of travel, but shows how managing the curbside space of the region's densely populated districts can result in more harmony between different modes in those areas. It is a remedy for congestion in highly trafficked, walkable urban areas.

• The  Regional Wayfinding Plan  focused on creating an inclusive signage plan that enhances the visitor experience and fits the needs of bicyclists, pedestrians and transit users across the metro area. The goal was to develop a system that helps users find logical and safe connections between key destinations and commercial districts in the region.