| Do you have a suggestion on how we can help make our roads safer and less congested? Let us know in the forums . |
Current Section: Driving Articles
| Americas Overburdened Highways -Time for an Alternative? |
| Friday, 15 February 2008 | |
|
Population is growing. Traffic is increasing. Road rage is on the rise. Is it any wonder? According to the 2005 Urban Mobility Report, Congestion has grown substantially in U.S. cities over the past twenty years, currently topping over 60 hours of delay annually per traveler in very large cities(2). This congestion is predominantly a function of bottlenecks, traffic incidents, and work zones, which collectively account for 75% of all congestion (1). For this reason, the Federal Highway Administrations’ Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Trends and Advanced Strategies for Congestion Mitigation publicly state they have developed strategies falling into three categories: 1. Adding More Base Capacity – Increasing the number and size of highways and providing more transit and freight rail service. This can include expanding the base capacity (by adding additional lanes or building new highways) as well as redesigning specific bottlenecks such as interchanges and intersections to increase their capacity. 2. Operating Existing Capacity More Efficiently – Getting more out of what we have. 3. Encouraging Travel and Land Use Patterns that Use the System in Less Congestion Producing Ways – Travel Demand Management (TDM), non-automotive travel modes, and land use management. However, they make the claim that the operational strategies (those that focus on the traffic-influencing events) that have the greatest impact. They focus on management of incidents, work zones, road weather, traveler information, and toll pricing as some of their greatest tools, claiming these as the strategies best in reducing congestion. And it is here where I get upset… I don’t disagree with the initial strategies, but I believe focusing on operational strategies is predominantly short sighted in nature and ultimately self-defeating. Basically, it’s spending the bulk of my tax dollars for temporary fixes that don’t address the core problem. I don’t propose not spending money on managing traffic incidents, I just believe we must at least spend one-quarter as much on strategies which will reduce those incidents, namely getting systems in place to efficiently move greater numbers of people. Higher traffic means a greater number of incidents. That’s no secret. Anyone who’s ever been in heavy traffic knows aggressive driving and thoughtless actions cause incidents. And although there is a great number of TV and radio stations giving updated traffic reports, the vast number of these reports are not actionable for most motorists. How many times have I heard about traffic breakdowns and backups only to find them cleared by the time I get to the location they advise me against traveling? Similarly when I am in awful traffic jams, it is not reported until I am either through the jam or stuck in the middle of it, unable to change my course. Let’s face it. We can’t just keep adding wider and wider highways. Alternatives must be built! I live in Texas, and I love my car. Thank God, because in Texas it truly is the only way to get around. I have traveled on Houston busses and Dallas Dart system. If you live on the route and work downtown it is a possibility. But if you don’t, forget it. I once had a broken leg in Houston and could not drive for a few weeks. I found that a 20-minute drive took 3 hours by bus, and you had to walk (in my case on crutches) long ways to get to where the busses ran. I have tried to take AMTRAK to Austin, Houston, New Orleans, San Antonio, etc. only to find out the only times they were leaving was Tuesday at 10:35 AM, arriving on Wednesday at 2:20PM (forget weekend travel), costing way more than driving and taking 4 times as long. WHO CAN SERIOUSLY TRAVEL THIS WAY?!! In recent years, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK) has been operating at a loss, despite over $1 billion in federal subsidies. Moreover, it will require billions of additional dollars to address issues of deferred maintenance. According to a 2007 U.S. Governments Accountability Office report entitled 'Intercity Passenger Rail: Highlights of GAO report on Need for National Policy and Strategies to maximize Public Benefits from Federal Expenditures', intercity rail travel is a difficult issue because it is unclear as to |