What problems does traffic congestion cause, and how can they be solved?
An IELTS Writing Task 2 problem and solution essay on traffic congestion in large cities, with a band 9 model answer, a plan, and notes on how it meets each marking criterion.
Write your answer
Do this before you scroll. The model answer below will make sense as a comparison and not much use as a template.
Task 2 · 40 minutes · at least 250 words
In many large cities, traffic congestion has become a serious problem. What problems does this cause, and what measures could be taken to reduce it?
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How to plan this one
- 1Two questions, two body paragraphs: problems, then measures. Both halves are marked, so give each the same weight.
- 2Pick two problems you can make specific (time lost and air quality are the obvious pair) rather than four you can only name.
- 3Match each measure to a problem in the same order. A solutions paragraph that does not answer the problems paragraph is the classic failure on this type.
- 4Name who acts for each measure: city governments, employers, individuals. "Something should be done" is not a measure.
Model answer
Written at the top of the band. Read it for the moves it makes, not the opinions it holds: a memorised essay on this topic will not fit the prompt you actually get.
Traffic congestion is now a defining feature of large cities, and in places such as Karachi and Lahore it has moved from an irritation to a constraint on how people live. The problems it causes fall into two groups, and each has a measure that addresses it directly.
The first problem is time. A commute that once took thirty minutes now routinely takes ninety, and the loss is not evenly shared: it falls hardest on the lower-paid, who live furthest from the centre and cannot afford to move closer. Multiplied across a city, this is millions of hours a year taken from work, family and rest, and it has a measurable cost in productivity and in wellbeing. The second problem is air. Idling engines in slow traffic emit far more per kilometre than moving ones, and the resulting pollution is concentrated exactly where people are densest. The connection between congestion and respiratory illness, particularly in children, is well documented.
The measure that answers the first problem is a public transport network that is faster than driving. Bus rapid transit lanes that are physically separated from other traffic, as in Lahore and Peshawar, cut journey times for their users immediately and, because they are visible from the queue of cars beside them, persuade drivers to switch. The measure that answers the second is to make driving into the centre carry its true cost. Congestion charging, parking priced by demand and low-emission zones have reduced traffic and improved air in every city that has applied them seriously, and the revenue funds the transit that makes the charge fair.
Neither measure works alone. A charge without an alternative punishes people; an alternative without a charge is ignored by those who can afford to keep driving. Introduced together, they address the time and the air at once.
Why it scores, criterion by criterion
Task Response
Two problems, each developed with a consequence and a specific detail, then two measures that answer those same problems in the same order, each with an actor and a mechanism. The conclusion adds the relationship between the measures rather than repeating them. Every part of the two-part question is addressed with equal weight.
Coherence and Cohesion
The structure is announced in the introduction ("fall into two groups, and each has a measure") and delivered exactly. Paired openings ("The first problem is", "The measure that answers the first problem is") tie problems to solutions without a single "furthermore". The final paragraph opens with a short, plain claim and justifies it.
Lexical Resource
Topic vocabulary used accurately: "commute", "idling engines", "bus rapid transit", "congestion charging", "low-emission zones", "respiratory illness". Precise general vocabulary: "constraint", "not evenly shared", "well documented", "carry its true cost". No word is used for effect that is not also exact.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range: a colon introducing a qualification ("the loss is not evenly shared: it falls hardest on"), participle and relative clauses, a balanced pair of short sentences in the conclusion ("A charge without ... ; an alternative without ..."). All error-free, with sentence length varied for emphasis.
Language worth stealing
Each of these carries a trap as well as a use, so the note matters as much as the phrase.
- The problems fall into two groups, and each has a measure that addresses it
- An introduction sentence that promises the structure. It commits you to matching problems and measures, which is the whole skill on this type.
- The measure that answers the first problem is ...
- Links a solution explicitly to its problem. Replaces "One solution is", which links to nothing.
- the loss is not evenly shared: it falls hardest on ...
- Develops a problem by saying who it hurts. A colon introducing the explanation is the correct punctuation here.
- Neither measure works alone
- A conclusion that adds a relationship between the solutions rather than repeating them. Follow it with the reason, in two balanced clauses.
More Task 2 practice
Last updated 18 September 2026.