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30 September 2003, 11:36 PM
Highway congestion levels off in N. Texas
Report finds it's still slow going, but delays aren't getting longer
08:48 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2003
By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/100103dnmettraffic.49e47c00.html
North Texas is struggling to hold its ground in the battle against highway congestion, but local motorists still spend more than two days a year stuck in traffic, according to a national study released Tuesday.
Congestion is getting worse nationally, but Dallas-Fort Worth traffic remained relatively stable from 2000 to 2001, according to the Texas Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report. The study, based on 2001 data, also shows that the use of technology and public transit can ease the crush on highways.
Figures for 2002 are not yet available.
"We're getting a hair of a breather here. If you travel around the region in the last year or so, I don't think it's as bad," said Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the regional planning agency. He argued that North Texas should use the leveling off of congestion to start expansions on LBJ Freeway and Airport Freeway.
The transportation institute, a research arm of Texas A&M University, has published its Urban Mobility Report annually for two decades. In the report's first year, North Texas motorists suffered a 7 percent delay for driving in peak periods vs. driving in free-flowing conditions. That delay grew to 33 percent by 2001, the same level as in 2000.
Nationally, congestion grew at a slower pace in 2001 when compared to traffic growth seen in 2000. The reason lies at least in part to the nation's economic slowdown.
"A lot of cities from 2000 to 2001 didn't change," said researcher and study co-author David Schrank. "What we are seeing there is the link between the economy and transportation. It will be really interesting to see what the 2002 numbers look like."
Even with relatively stable conditions, Dallas-Fort Worth motorists in 2001 spent 51 hours a year slowed behind someone else on their way to and from work. That figure, based on a national average 25-minute, one-way commute, ranks 18th in the nation.
In addition, congestion has become so prevalent that on average, every man, woman and child in North Texas spends 36 hours a year delayed in traffic. Only three cities – Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston – have worse per-capita delays.
But there is hope, researchers say. For the first time, they measured the effects of public transportation, bus and carpool lanes and technological improvements such as signal-light timing, traffic lights on entrance ramps and the use of traffic cameras. Those efforts paid off by reducing commute times by 4.3 hours per person a year in North Texas.
"While things are getting worse in general, things could be much worse if departments of transportation and everyone else involved did not put these treatments out there," Mr. Schrank said. "All these things make a difference."
Mass-transit advocates nationally used the report to call for increased attention to federal public transportation funding. Locally, mass transit's role in reducing congestion was less than in some cities like Houston, which don't have rail lines. However, the study did not include Dallas Area Rapid Transit's light-rail extensions into Garland, Richardson and Plano, because they opened in 2002.
"This says what we've said all along: We're one of the tools," said DART board chairman Robert Pope, who added that the transit agency serves only 41 percent of the area's population.
E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com
Report finds it's still slow going, but delays aren't getting longer
08:48 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 30, 2003
By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/100103dnmettraffic.49e47c00.html
North Texas is struggling to hold its ground in the battle against highway congestion, but local motorists still spend more than two days a year stuck in traffic, according to a national study released Tuesday.
Congestion is getting worse nationally, but Dallas-Fort Worth traffic remained relatively stable from 2000 to 2001, according to the Texas Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report. The study, based on 2001 data, also shows that the use of technology and public transit can ease the crush on highways.
Figures for 2002 are not yet available.
"We're getting a hair of a breather here. If you travel around the region in the last year or so, I don't think it's as bad," said Michael Morris, director of transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the regional planning agency. He argued that North Texas should use the leveling off of congestion to start expansions on LBJ Freeway and Airport Freeway.
The transportation institute, a research arm of Texas A&M University, has published its Urban Mobility Report annually for two decades. In the report's first year, North Texas motorists suffered a 7 percent delay for driving in peak periods vs. driving in free-flowing conditions. That delay grew to 33 percent by 2001, the same level as in 2000.
Nationally, congestion grew at a slower pace in 2001 when compared to traffic growth seen in 2000. The reason lies at least in part to the nation's economic slowdown.
"A lot of cities from 2000 to 2001 didn't change," said researcher and study co-author David Schrank. "What we are seeing there is the link between the economy and transportation. It will be really interesting to see what the 2002 numbers look like."
Even with relatively stable conditions, Dallas-Fort Worth motorists in 2001 spent 51 hours a year slowed behind someone else on their way to and from work. That figure, based on a national average 25-minute, one-way commute, ranks 18th in the nation.
In addition, congestion has become so prevalent that on average, every man, woman and child in North Texas spends 36 hours a year delayed in traffic. Only three cities – Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston – have worse per-capita delays.
But there is hope, researchers say. For the first time, they measured the effects of public transportation, bus and carpool lanes and technological improvements such as signal-light timing, traffic lights on entrance ramps and the use of traffic cameras. Those efforts paid off by reducing commute times by 4.3 hours per person a year in North Texas.
"While things are getting worse in general, things could be much worse if departments of transportation and everyone else involved did not put these treatments out there," Mr. Schrank said. "All these things make a difference."
Mass-transit advocates nationally used the report to call for increased attention to federal public transportation funding. Locally, mass transit's role in reducing congestion was less than in some cities like Houston, which don't have rail lines. However, the study did not include Dallas Area Rapid Transit's light-rail extensions into Garland, Richardson and Plano, because they opened in 2002.
"This says what we've said all along: We're one of the tools," said DART board chairman Robert Pope, who added that the transit agency serves only 41 percent of the area's population.
E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com