Abstract: A method for traffic congestion detection for a roadway facility having a plurality of segments includes receiving travel time data from at least one travel time data source for a plurality of predetermined time intervals and determining a travel time index (TTI) for each time interval based on the travel time data associated with the time interval. The method further includes determining a change in travel time index (TTI) intensity between two successive time intervals for each pair of successive time intervals in the plurality of time intervals, applying a signal processing filter to the determined change in travel time index intensity to generate a filter value for each time interval; and determining a congestion level for each time interval based on the filter value for each time interval and a predetermined set of congestion level thresholds.