This report summarizes empirical research about the causes and impact of non-recurrent congestion. A method is presented to divide the total congestion delay in a freeway section into six components: the delay caused by incidents, special events, lane closures, and adverse weather; the potential reduction in delay at bottlenecks that ideal ramp metering can achieve; and the remaining delay, due mainly to excess demand. The method can be applied to any site with minimum calibration, but it requires data about traffic volume and speed; the time and location of incidents, special events and...