The Physics Behind Traffic Jams
The solution to traffic jams is to have a dynamically calculated speed limit based on the density of the traffic flowing through it. A car going 60mph down the highway needs 50 feet in front and 50 feet in back between it and the other cars (for braking distance). When that same car is going 20 mph, you only need 10 feet in front and back. Therefore, to support more cars, speed needs to slow down. You could have a device that counts the amount of cars entering the highway, and then an algorithm could assign a speed limit for a section of the highway. In the middle of the nigh, theres no one else on the road, so the speed limit will be very high. During rush hour the speed limit could be as low as 15mph. This would make merging easier since you're going slower.<p>You wouldn't think that lowering speed limits would easy traffic congestion, but it would. Its a counter-intuitive, so it will never be implemented anywhere.