Thread: Study: Many Cities Face Los Angeles-Like Traffic Jams

Traffic delays to increase by over 65 percent;
$533 billion worth of added road capacity needed in US

How bad is your commute going to get? Traffic delays will increase 65 percent and the number of congested lane-miles on urban roads will rise by 50 percent over the next 25 years. Los Angeles, home to the nation's worst traffic today, will continue to have the longest delays, with trips during peak hours taking nearly twice as long as they do when roads are free-flowing. But LA won’t be alone. Several cities face the dubious honor of having Los Angeles-like gridlock.

By 2030, drivers in 11 metro areas – Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma, and Washington, D.C. - will be stuck in daily traffic jams that are as bad as or worse than today's infamous bottlenecks in Los Angeles, according to a new Reason Foundation study. In those cities it will take at least 75 percent longer to make a trip during peak hours than off-peak periods. So, for example, a trip that is supposed to take 30 minutes would take over 52 minutes.

Today, only four cities (LA, Chicago, San Francisco , and Washington, D.C.) experience travel time delays of even 50 percent. But, because road capacity is failing to keep up with demand and population growth, the Reason study finds that a whopping 30 cities will be experiencing daily delays that make rush hour trips 50 percent longer than off-peak journeys.

The full study, examining long-term traffic congestion levels and road capacity needs in every state and over 400 US cities, is here:

» Building Roads to Reduce Traffic Congestion in America's Cities: How Much and at What Cost?
» Press Release
» Surface Transportation Innovations Newsletter (August 2006)

http://www.reason.org/transportation/

Today, only four cities (LA, Chicago, San Francisco , and Washington, D.C.) experience travel time delays of even 50 percent. But, because road capacity is failing to keep up with demand and population growth, the Reason study finds that a whopping 30 cities will be experiencing daily delays that make rush hour trips 50 percent longer than off-peak journeys.

I'm outside of Chicago and it's bad enough. I don't even know if they made the roads 6 lanes each side that it would be enough. It takes me longer to go 2 miles than it did to drive 50 miles in Nebraska. It is so tight bumper to bumper you are getting run off the road just to slow down a tad to read a street sign. There's no casual Sunday drive that's for sure!! I am a basket case after a trip to the big city. Not to mention broke. But they keep building and building and building and do nothing to the roads. Of course I still say Illinois is the WORST state when it comes to roads. You know the second you leave the state because suddenly there's decent roads. Takes them years to do a simple stretch. Always blocked off.....but nobody working. And it doesn't look like there's any hope in the near future. I have a hard time getting on the highway going with the traffic.......forget crossing it on foot! Even at corners they are still barreling through and you can't cross then. I'd feel safer in a tank.