This road was heavily congested, approaching gridlock during rush hour by 1940.

The report is sure to fuel the growing debate about an air system that many say is approaching gridlock.

On the F.A.A. site, you could click on links to 40 major airports and observe, from Denver to the Atlantic, a system approaching gridlock.

Yet despite the expenditure of billions - and repeated warnings over the last decade that the air traffic system was approaching gridlock - there is still no relief in sight for frustrated fliers.

Although the site was already approaching subterranean gridlock, engineers devised a tower support system of 55 columns, penetrating 100 feet into bedrock and sidestepping the existing underground activity.

By 6:30 two additional helicopters were ordered to monitor the impending crisis as the city approached real gridlock.

The associate engineer for transportation in the Transportation Department, Paul M. Silversmith, said the three roads under consideration already approached gridlock at peak hours.

Both are beset with traffic that approaches gridlock.

The delays and cancellations, coming at the peak of vacation season, have fueled a debate that the nation's air system may be approaching gridlock.

At times yesterday, with morning rush train service disrupted throughout the city because of police investigations, the Bowling Green station approached gridlock.