The phrase,'Unsound Transit', was coined by the Wall Street Journal to describe Seattle where,"Light Rail Madness eats billions that could otherwise be devoted to truly efficient transportation technologies." The Puget Sound's traffic congestion is a growing cancer on the region's prosperity. This website, captures news and expert opinion about ways to address the crisis. This is not a blog, but a knowledge base, which collects the best articles and presents them in a searchable format. My goal is to arm residents with knowledge so they can champion fact-based, rather than emotional, solutions.

Transportation

Monday, March 10, 2008

Growth in Traffic Congestion 1982 -2005

Table 4. Trends—Annual Delay per Traveler, 1982 to 2005

Long-Term Change
3/3/06
Annual Hours of Delay per Traveler
1982 to 2005 Change 82-05
Urban Area 2005 2004 1995 1982 Hours Rank
Very Large Avera 54 51 43 21 33
Dallas-Fort Worth58 51 34 10 48 1
Washington, DC-VA60 60 53 16 44 3
San Francisco-Oak60 56 56 24 36 7
Atlanta, GA 60 63 70 26 34 10
Boston, MA-NH-R 46 45 30 12 34 10
Miami, FL 50 49 35 16 34 10
New York-Newark,46 42 30 12 34 10
Seattle, WA 45 42 52 13 32 18
Chicago, IL-IN 46 44 33 15 31 19
Detroit, MI 54 56 51 25 29 21
Los Angeles-LBch72 70 71 45 27 24
Houston, TX 56 52 32 30 26 27
Philadelphia, P 38 37 27 16 22 36
Phoenix, AZ 48 42 33 35 13 57
Large Average 37 36 30 11 26
San Diego, CA 57 59 35 12 45 2
Riverside-San Be49 47 28 5 44 3
Minneapolis-St. 43 40 34 6 37 5
Orlando, FL 54 56 54 18 36 7
Denver-Aurora, 50 46 37 16 34 10
Baltimore, MD 44 43 33 11 33 15
San Antonio, TX 39 38 19 6 33 15
San Jose, CA 54 51 51 23 31 19
Columbus, OH 33 34 27 4 29 21
Las Vegas, NV 39 39 37 10 29 21
Sacramento, CA 41 40 35 14 27 24
Providence, RI-M29 29 12 3 26 27
Portland, OR-WA 38 37 33 13 25 29
Indianapolis, I 43 46 53 19 24 31
Memphis TN-MS-AR30 29 23 6 24 31
Cincinnati, OH-K27 27 26 5 22 36
St. Louis, MO-I 33 31 38 12 21 40
Tampa-St. Peters45 46 41 24 21 40
Virginia Beach, 30 30 27 14 16 49
Kansas City, MO-17 16 17 3 14 54
Milwaukee, WI 19 20 22 7 12 62
Cleveland, OH 13 14 16 3 10 67
Buffalo, NY 11 11 6 3 8 72
Pittsburgh, PA 16 17 19 11 5 80
New Orleans, LA 18 18 20 16 2 84
85 Area Average 44 42 36 16 28
Remaining Areas
Areas over 250k 22 25 18 6 16
Under 250,000 20 19 16 5 15
All Urban A 38 37 31 14 24
Very Large Urban Areas—over 3 million population.
Large Urban Areas—over 1 million and less than 3 million population.


Annual Delay per Traveler - Extra travel time for peak-period travel during the year divided by the number of travelers who begin a trip during the peak period (6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.). Free-flow speeds (60 mph on freeways and 35 mph on principal arterials) are used as the comparison threshold.

Data for years 2000 to 2005 include the effects of operational treatments.

: Please do not place too much emphasis on small differences in the rankings. There may be little difference in congestion
between areas ranked (for example) 6th and 12th. The actual measure values should also be examined. Also note: The best congestion comparisons use multi-year trends and are made between similar urban areas.



Table 4. Trends—Annual Delay per Traveler, 1982 to 2005, Continued

Long-Term Change

Annual Hours of Delay per Traveler 1982 to 2005
Urban Area 2005 2004 1995 1982 Hours Rank
Medium Average 28 27 21 9 19
Austin, TX 49 44 32 12 37 5
Oxnard-Ventura, 39 35 21 4 35 9
Charlotte, NC-S 45 47 23 12 33 15
Raleigh-Durham, 35 35 26 8 27 24
Birmingham, AL 33 33 21 8 25 29
Louisville, KY-I42 44 34 18 24 31
Jacksonville, F 39 41 40 16 23 34
Albuquerque, NM 33 30 30 11 22 36
Bridgeport-Stamf31 28 22 9 22 36
El Paso, TX-NM 24 22 10 3 21 40
Nashville-Davids40 40 35 20 20 43
Omaha, NE-IA 25 26 19 5 20 43
Salt Lake City, 27 29 32 8 19 46
Grand Rapids, 24 24 19 6 18 47
Tucson, AZ 42 39 23 24 18 47
Oklahoma City, O20 22 17 5 15 51
Hartford, CT 19 19 13 4 15 51
New Haven, CT 19 18 13 5 14 54
Richmond, VA 20 20 22 6 14 54
Albany-Schenect 16 16 8 3 13 57
Allentown-Bethle22 22 21 9 13 57
Toledo, OH-MI 15 17 12 2 13 57
Tulsa, OK 19 19 14 8 11 65
Honolulu, HI 24 22 26 14 10 67
Sarasota-Bradent25 26 19 15 10 67
Akron, OH 10 11 9 2 8 72
Fresno, CA 20 19 17 12 8 72
Dayton, OH 17 19 22 10 7 76
Rochester, NY 10 10 7 3 7 76
Springfield, M 11 10 10 7 4 83
Small Average 17 17 13 6 11
Colorado Springs27 22 12 4 23 34
Pensacola, FL-A 25 24 16 5 20 43
Charleston-North31 32 28 15 16 49
Cape Coral, FL 24 24 28 9 15 51
Little Rock, AR 17 17 10 4 13 57
Bakersfield, CA 14 12 7 2 12 62
Columbia, SC 16 16 11 4 12 62
Salem, OR 14 14 12 3 11 65
Laredo, TX 12 11 7 2 10 67
Boulder, CO 16 16 16 7 9 71
Eugene, OR 14 12 7 6 8 72
Beaumont, TX 11 11 6 4 7 76
Brownsville, TX 8 8 4 2 6 79
Corpus Christi, 10 10 7 5 5 80
Spokane, WA 8 8 10 3 5 80
Anchorage, AK 10 10 9 10 0 85
85 Area Average 44 42 36 16 28
Remaining Areas
Areas Over 250k 22 25 18 6 16
under 250k 20 19 16 5 15
All Urban Areas 38 37 31 14 24
Medium Urban Areas—over 500,000 and less than 1 million population. Small Urban Areas—less than 500,000 population.


Annual Delay per Traveler - Extra travel time for peak-period travel during the year divided by the number of travelers who begin a trip during the peak period (6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.). Free-flow speeds (60 mph on freeways and 35 mph on principal arterials) are used as the comparison threshold.

Data for years 2000 to 2005 include the effects of operational treatments.

: Please do not place too much emphasis on small differences in the rankings. There may be little difference in congestion
between areas ranked (for example) 6th and 12th. The actual measure values should also be examined. Also note: The best congestion comparisons use multi-year trends and are made between similar urban areas.

The articles are posted solely for educational purposes to raise awareness of transportation issues. I claim no authorship, nor do I profit from this website. Where known, all original authors and/or source publisher have been noted in the post. As this is a knowledge base, rather than a blog, I have reproduced the articles in full to allow for complete reader understanding and allow for comprehensive text searching...see custom google search engine at the top of the page. If you have concerns about the inclusion of a specific article, please email bbdc1@live.com. for a speedy resolution.