Strategies to Overcome Network Congestion in Infrastructure Systems

Networked Infrastructure systems deliver services and/or products from point to point along the network. Demand for the services provided by such systems is typically cyclic, creating inefficiencies in capacity utilization. Congestion pricing provides incentives to shift demand from peak time periods to lower demand periods. This effectively increases the capacity of the system without the need for additional capital investment. This paper investigates the potential for congestion pricing to reduce necessary infrastructure investments in the United States. Several types of congestion pricing schemes are presented, along with existing implementations across multiple infrastructure systems. We find over $20 billion in potential annual savings in electricity and road systems alone in the United States from implementing congestion pricing schemes.