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Why do we have so much traffic?
There are many reasons why. Over the years, urban areas nationwide have been decreasing in density while low density suburban development has been expanding. People who live in dense urban communities drive considerably less - an average of 2.3 miles a day - and use other transportation options more than people who live in dispersed, low-density areas who may drive as many as 21 miles per day, according to a study by the Urban Land Institute.
In Pennsylvania, land is being developed at a rate that exceeds population growth. Between 1982 and 1997, while developed land area increased by 56%, the Commonwealth’s population increased by only 1.4%. (Governor’s Center of Local Government Services Annual Report on Land Use, January 2000) Our sprawl form of land development separates different land uses, causing an increased reliance on the automobile as people travel greater distances to work or shop.
Nationwide, between 1980 and 1998, vehicle-miles-of-travel grew by 72% according to the Federal Highway Administration. Due to the relative affordability of cars in this country, more cars appear on the road every year, more people are driving, and people are driving more miles.
Now, most families have more than one car, most women are working and driving, and it’s common to drive 20-30 miles to our jobs. Businesses also rely heavily on the nation’s road system to ship products to local, interstate and international markets. Because of this, truck traffic is also on the rise. (Click here for more on truck traffic)
Why has traffic congestion become such a big problem?
The longest-running study of traffic congestion in America – the Urban Mobility Study conducted annually for 19 years by the Texas Transportation Institute – confirms the trend: on a daily basis, Americans are experiencing longer delays, longer periods of congestion, and the spread of congestion across more and more of the nation’s roadways. In Pennsylvania, Lancaster County has experienced the state’s biggest leap in congested roads, from thirteen percent in 1995 to 23 percent in 1999.
Much of our traffic growth is attributed to increased per-capita travel. Today’s mobile society places increasing burdens on our roadways. The rate of road building has been unable to keep pace with this increase in mobility. Congestion is the result.
In the 1990s alone, the number of vehicle miles traveled by the average Pennsylvanian grew by 18 percent, according to the state’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee. During the same time, road miles grew by only two percent.
So we end up sitting in traffic instead of driving in it, which delays and frustrates us all. The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) reports that Americans waste more that 4.3 billion hours a year stuck in traffic. That’s about 34 hours per driver. And congestion is not cheap. According to the TTI study, the annual cost of congestion in terms of lost hours and wasted fuel may approach $100 billion annually. Consequently, traffic congestion is considered a growing threat to the nation’s economy and to our quality of life.