Robert Harrison, the deputy director of the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas, says intelligent systems that will help control congestion are already in place and will become much more prevalent as time passes.

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But it will not melt snow, build new runways to ease congestion, make the sun shine or prevent air traffic control strikes or disruptions.

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Bristol, which was originally enthusiastic about congestion charging, dropped its plans when the Liberal Democrats took control of the council.

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Certainly when it comes to flight delays, problems unique to specific airlines like plane readiness and crew availability are compounded by factors beyond their control, such as airport mismanagement, air traffic congestion, bad weather and, these days, longer security lines.

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However, many of the other recommendations, such as reducing congestion on America's highways, are beyond the industry's control.

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At the moment, the routing algorithm does not talk to the flow-control algorithm, which means paths do not change even when there is congestion.

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