Transportation News

Eastern Massachusetts drivers wasted 93 million hours of additional time on the roads (12th worst in the nation), and 62.5 million gallons of additional gas as a result of traffic congestion (13th worst in the nation) in 2005. This additional wasted time and fuel costs drivers an equivalent of $1.8 billion (12th worst in the nation), according to the federally sponsored Urban Mobility Report released today by the Texas Transportation Institute. The findings underscore the need for increased public transportation usage in the region.

View the report at: http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/ 

The report shows that traffic congestion would be significantly worse if not for public transportation within the metro area, which prevented $416 million in additional delays compared to what they would have been if existing transit hadn’t taken large numbers of drivers off the region’s roads.

Yesterday, the state’s Transportation Finance Commission made recommendations for addressing funding problems at the Commonwealth’s largest transit authority, the MBTA. These recommendations included moving $1.8 billion of T debt associated with Central Artery transit commitment projects (like Silver Line and Greenbush commuter rail) back to the Commonwealth’s general fund. And earmarking that freed up revenue for the MBTA’s state of good repair backlogged maintenance needs.

“This report underscores the need for a thriving transit system to address a huge quality of life problem in the region,” said Eric Bourassa, MASSPIRG Consumer Advocate. “That’s why it’s critical to relieve the MBTA of this debt. Otherwise fares will rise dramatically, way beyond the rate of inflation, and service will continue to deteriorate. It’s not fair that the MBTA is suffering because of projects the Authority was forced to pay for as a part of Big Dig air pollution mitigation. The state should have factored in and budgeted for the environmental and public health impacts of the Big Dig, and not dumped those costs on the T and T riders.”

The Urban Mobility Report calculates mobility and traffic congestion on freeways and major streets in 85 cities and is the most authoritative source on the region’s traffic conditions.

Traffic congestion in the Boston region and nationally has worsened steadily since the report first began tracking travel time in 1982. Travel times for commutes have increased in each year of the study, especially during rush hour. Per commuter on average during peak times, traffic delays have increased from 31 hours a year in 1995 to 46 hours in 2005.  According to the report, if it were not for public transportation in the region, commuters at peak times would experience an additional 11 hours of traffic delays in 2005.

“For decades, we’ve tried to fight traffic congestion by building new roads,” continued Bourassa. “This report is further evidence of the failure of that strategy. Instead we need to improve public transit, and expand bus and rail systems to reduce the number of drivers on the road. Doing so will reduce our nation’s dependence on dirty fossil fuels and address congestion problems before they cripple our metro areas.”

 

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