Present Findings

Drawing Conclusions

In this project, students have used their maps and their research to study how traffic jams occur; now they must decide how to present them. They review their maps and outline solutions to present to their city council.

Reviewing the map below, the team decides that they can have the greatest effect by addressing factors that increase or decrease traffic jams "a lot" (the relationships with the thickest lines on the map). Using this strategy, they find that "number of lanes" is the most critical factor. While their initial idea was to find a way to reduce the number of cars, their map shows them that the number of lanes available is a more critical factor than the number of cars traveling.

View the animation >

This map shows that there are two primary factors reducing the number of lanes. Red arrows point from "accidents," and "stalled cars."

Using their data, the team proposes the following programs:

1. Find an incident response team of police and tow trucks to clear stalled cars and accidents as quickly as possible.
2. Put a bond measure before the voters to widen the highway by one lane in each direction and to build a breakdown lane beside the highway.
3. Investigate using a chemical agent to remove snow from the highway.

The team produces a set of tables and charts that demonstrated the influence of each of the factors on traffic flow. They predict the traffic flow improvements that result from their proposals and estimate the costs of each new program.