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Is there a traffic problem?
About 4.2 billion hours per year are wasted during traffic congestion, according to the Texas Transportation Institute’s new Urban Mobility Report. That is the equivalent of almost one week of work for every commuter.
The report determined how many extra hours drivers spend in their car every year just because of heavy traffic. Los Angeles is ranked number one in the most recent update, with 70 hours burned every year in congestion; Washington, D.C. ranked 2nd, with 62 hours wasted; and Atlanta was third, with 57 hours spent alternating between the gas and brake pedals.
On the other end, Indianapolis was one of five urban areas to rack up only 39 hours of horn honking, useless lane changing, beard trimming, nail polishing, newspaper reading, or anything else that drivers do while sitting in traffic.
If you are wondering how many hours you waste sitting in traffic every year, you can look for your city here, and see the how much traffic has grown around you over 25 years. And don’t forget to tell us how you find ways to be productive during all that gridlock.
back to top16 Comments to “Is there a traffic problem?”
When America collectively decided that govt money would build roads and loops to permit more traffic into the denser downtown areas, only the carmakers and the oil-producers knew the long term consequences.
I’ve said all along perhaps in order to promote conservation the govt should offer tax credits for those folks who live within (insert number here) miles of where they work.
In the days of cheap gas maybe it made sense to let folks live 30 or so miles off from where they work. Zoning laws have also exacerbated this problem
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Doing 70 in a 70. Motorcycle guy cruises past me. Motorcycle guy is texting on cellphone. I keep motorcycle guy in front of me where I can keep an eye on him. Wassup wid dat?
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If the police would enforce the speed laws, a lot of fuel could be saved, plus local revenues could be increased from fines. I personally like working from home. That way I do not have to commute to work.
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Before the baby, I was able to convince my boss to let me work 7 to 4. It seemed like I got more done between 7 and 9 than the rest of the day put together. I even managed to learn a new piece of equipment that I would have had trouble getting access to during the busy part of the day. Then some of my co-workers caught on and started doing the same thing and there went my early morning quiet. We have another guy who has always worked 11 to 8 and loves it. Anyway, I know it wouldn’t work for some businesses but why does everyone have to be there at the same time?
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What traffic? I live two-and-a-half miles from work. Takes about ten minutes.
On really nice days, I walk (which takes about 45 minutes).
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Scott beat me to it. I live 3-1/2 miles from work. Takes 7 minutes.
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I did listen to Peter Kreeft on the way to work last week though. Pretty productive 7 minutes, that…
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Metanoia – YIKES!!!
This nicely illustrates why all major roads ought to be toll roads, with a pricing that is time and congestion dependent. Congestion based pricing recognizes that you only bear the average cost of congestion – the time you spend waiting – not the marginal cost you impose on everyone – slowing the whole network down a little bit – by your decision to commute during rush hour.
By accurately reflecting that cost, drivers have an incentive to make other transportation decisions – switching modes of transport, encouraging employers to stagger starting and ending times, telecommuting, carpooling, ridesharing, etc.
As it is, we have heavily subsidized and encouraged people to drive more and more. I’m grateful to be living in an urban area (Buffalo) where commute times are generally low, and have increased only moderately from 1982-2007 (roughly my driving life-time). But traffic is noticeably worse here than 25 years ago, despite a steeply declining population in the urban center, and a moderate decline over the entire two-county Erie-Niagara SMSA.
On the face of it, to me, that proves a failure to have any sort of regional development or growth plans. In many cases, public transit simply doesn’t go where it’s needed. Our rapid-transit line was never extended to the newer population centers and locations where people actually work. The bus lines are more flexible, but not well-planned out – 20 minute car trips become 90 minute odysseys with multiple transfers.
In some cases, there is active opposition to public transit that actually takes people from where they live to where they need to go.
Concerning our Walden Galleria Mall in the first-ring suburb of Cheektowaga:
And a more recent controversy:
Quaker Crossing
So even when we want to get out of our cars and reduce driving, it is made difficult.
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I live five miles from work. There’s a right turn onto a highway, about three blocks from my house, where I sometimes have to wait for a break in traffic. And once in a while I actually have to stop at a traffic light. So it can take me as long as ten minutes, though it’s usually probably closer to 7 or 8.
What really used to add to my commute time was walking from my car to my desk. It’s a very large parking lot, and I work all the way on the opposite end of the building. So it took nearly as long to get to my desk once I finally found a parking space, as to drive from my house to work.
Now that so many people have been laid off, and the plant is only working three weeks a month, I can park much closer to the building. Less exercise, but in rainy weather I’m glad of the shorter walk. Of course, none of us are happy about the reason for having better parking spaces…
I’d ride my bike to work if I could find a more or less direct route. But the way streets are laid out in this community, and where the parks and industrial areas are, the only way to avoid zigzagging all over the place is to take the highway, and there’s no way I’m going to ride my bike on the highway.
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Sawgunner, you’re right — zoning laws have changed America in so many ways, most of them not good.
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I should have said “single-use zoning laws.” And added IMHO at the end.
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Royclay
The incident you described made the news on this side of the river. Wasn’t snow and ice clearance also a factor?
I also agree with the congestion based tolling. Its worked extremely well for London.
Single use zoning in itself is not a bad idea but over a large area it becomes a problem. There’s something soul-destroying with living in an area where there is nothing else but the same. My daughter like myself is being raised in old section of town in which she can walk/bike to everything; she can’t imagine living in the suburbs.
As for my commute — its about 10kms or 6-7 miles, but it takes about 20 minutes because of a section of winding road through a local conservation area slows drivers down to 40-50 km/h (30-35 mph). The view in the fall and winter is worth the slow down. Because I live below the escarpment and my school is above the escarpment there are very few options.
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Ways to be productive during gridlock? When I’m forced to wait in the car I try to make it work for me by making phone calls or going over memory verses stored in my PDA.
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I live about a mile and a half from my farthest classes (yet still off campus) and also live within a five minute walk of an HEB and Hastings, so the only time I drive is when I go to the rec center and that’s only because the Texas summers are so hot. I end up buying less than ten gallons of gas every two weeks driving an older mustang that gets something like 12-15 in the city.
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I have a 40 mile commute, with 25 miles as part of a carpool. It takes about an hour. Some of it is through a small city (~40,000 pop). I avoid the busiest part of that city. Here in rural areas we joke that it’s a traffic jam if you have three cars in a row.
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This is a lifestyle choice like any other. We choose where we live, we choose where we work. if we don’t like it, or if it takes too long or becomes too expensive, we can change it.
The roads and cars we have give us this freedom. Many would rather live in green suburbia, with the commute, than in the city. And commuting allows for many job opportunities – especially for households with more than one commuter.
In time the congestion increases. Capacity can be added, but only to a point, then that’s it. Public transit is very, very expensive and is only effective when there are very concentrated housing and employment centers. Where it makes economic sense and has potential ridership, it should be used.
So we will change our choices, or not, as people in the NYC metro area and others have done for years. Some large employers relocate to the suburbs, or to small towns with shorter commutes. And so it goes as at always has. We are free.
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