TTI Annual Congestion Report Shows DC Region’s Congestion Eased by Transit and Other Options
Coalition for Smarter Growth
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2009
CONTACT:
Stewart Schwartz, CSG
703-599-6437 (c)
stewart@smartergrowth.net
TTI Annual Congestion Report shows DC Region’s Congestion Eased by Transit and Other Options
Linking housing and jobs, development and transit, and increasing walkable/bikeable communities key solutions says Coalition for Smarter Growth
According to the annual Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Mobility Report released today, the DC region continues to face traffic congestion. That isn’t news to most people in the region. “The good news in this report for the DC region is that our investments in transit, HOV and other options, have offered people options for avoiding congestion and high gas prices, while easing the delays,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth, (www.smartergrowth.net).
The TTI report shows that the DC region ranked 5th in the nation among very large urban regions in the time and cost savings provided by Metro and our other transit systems. The region ranked 7th for the time and cost savings provided by HOV, traffic incident management and other operational approaches. See TTI table: http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/congestion_data/tables/national/table_3.pdf
“Transit, HOV and other investments help all drivers,” said Schwartz. A straight calculation from the TTI report’s table three shows that DC area transit systems have reduced time lost in delays on our highways by about 16% compared to what it would have been without transit. HOV and other operational approaches like incident management reduced time lost in delays by another 7%. But these numbers should be used with care because of the complexity of human behavior in choosing transportation options, routes, etc, so the savings could be less than this, but still substantial.
Transit ridership in the DC region, including from outlying jurisdictions, has boomed since last year’s gas price increases. Other data collected by local officials illustrates additional solutions. For example, according to the Council of Governments, the percentage of people biking to work in Arlington and Alexandria is booming, and a huge percentage of DC residents walk to work. At the same time, more people may be seeking to live closer to work, a trend which may be illustrated by recently reported jumps in population in Arlington and Alexandria.
“The good news is that in the near term small shifts to transit, HOV, walking, bicycling and telecommuting can make a huge difference,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director for the Coalition.
Earlier this year, in contrast to the TTI report the INRIX report found that a 3.7% drop in vehicle miles driven in 2008 resulted in a 30% drop in congestion in top 100 metro areas. (http://www.inrix.com/pressrelease.asp?ID=65).The Council of Governments’ 2009 aerial traffic survey showed significant drops in congestion, not reported in the TTI report. “Small changes in the amount we have to drive and having options makes a real difference in congestion, and saves money in an era of higher gas prices,” said Cort.
The TTI report highlights the role that business and residents need to play in addressing congestion, because it will be hard to find the funds to meet the very high cost of expanding highway and transit capacity in Metropolitan areas. In our region alone an estimated $9 billion is being spent on just three highway expansions (Virginia Beltway, I-395, and ICC) and $5 billion on Dulles Rail.
Schwartz said, “Ultimately, the greatest source of our traffic congestion and the place for the best long-term management of traffic lies in addressing where and how we grow. Spread out development at great distances from jobs forces more driving for longer distances and no amount of money will be able to fix this problem.”
“Linking housing and jobs, development and transit, and increasing walkable and bikeable communities will make a real long-term difference,” concluded Schwartz.
Specific examples of what can be done in our region include:
1) Corporate leaders need to put their offices at transit stations – VW’s new headquarters is nearly one mile from two future Dulles Rail stations instead of in the key ½ mile walking distance.
2) We need more jobs at transit stations in Prince George’s to address a huge shortage of nearby jobs. During the 1990’s 20 jobs were added to the west side of the region for every one on the east side, leading to significant east to west traffic on the Beltway from Prince George’s (see Outer Loop morning congestion from Prince George’s to Montgomery and the Inner Loop Wilson Bridge morning congestion from Prince George’s).
3) Montgomery County jobs should go to transit stations instead of being scattered in isolated office parks and more housing is needed near jobs in the I-270 corridor, because of the jobs/housing imbalance between eastern and western Montgomery.
4) Outlying suburbs should focus their development in mixed-use communities with transit tying these communities to other regional centers.
5) Current studies of Bus Priority Corridors offer a way to add high quality, reliable and fast bus service on dedicated lanes.
6) Since the majority of daily trips are non-work trips, even during peak rush hours, the more we provide mixed-use, walkable and bikeable communities with well-connected local streets, the less pressure on our highways and larger roads.
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