We're ranked # 3!!!!!!!!!!!! (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio: construction, university, calculated)

[Tim_Barton]

This is great news!!


Welcome to Austin!!!

Austin traffic congestion still nation's third worst, study says

Austin traffic congestion still nation's third worst, study says



For the second consecutive year, the Austin area ranked No. 3 nationally in traffic congestion, ahead of Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, according to a study to be released today by Texas A&M University researchers.
In 2010, the year studied in the report, the Austin area had a "travel time index" of 1.28 , meaning that a rush-hour trip takes 28 percent longer on average than one in free-flowing traffic. That puts the area behind only metropolitan Los Angeles, at 1.38, and the Washington area, with an index of 1.33, and tied with New York City and the San Francisco Bay area.
Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, with 1.27 and 1.23, respectively, have more acceptable traffic by that single measure from the Texas Transportation Institute, which is on the Texas A&M campus.
But Austin's 2010 congestion index remains at its 2007 level and down from a peak of 1.32 in 2005. Institute research engineer Tim Lomax, who initiated the mobility study as a Texas A&M graduate student in 1982 and has been one of its authors ever since, said the 70 miles of tollways that have opened in Austin's suburbs since late 2006 have had something to do with the change.
"But probably the biggest thing we've seen is the economy," Lomax said. "It's a serious drag on everything, and traffic congestion is certainly affected by the economy."
The study, which looked at traffic in more than 400 American cities, shows a similar depressive effect on road congestion nationwide. The overall travel time index, which was 1.25 in 2005, is now at 1.20 . Lomax and the other authors of the 51-page study warn that when economic numbers rise, so will traffic congestion, absent aggressive construction of road and rail projects and other traffic mitigation efforts.
"We recommend a balanced and diversified approach to reduce congestion — one that focuses on more of everything," the report said.
Austin, as in previous reports, fares better nationally on other congestion measures in the report.
The authors calculated a "commuter stress index" that looks only at the rush hour delay percentage in the main direction of travel (northbound on Interstate 35 from South Austin and Hays County in the morning, for instance, and southbound in the afternoon) and thus has higher numbers than the travel time index.
Austin's stress index for 2010 is 1.38 , putting it at eighth in the country. Houston traffic has a stress index of 1.40 , according to the report.
Austin's congestion cost, a measure that includes lost productivity and excess fuel from time spent idling in traffic, ranks 28th nationally, and the annual delay per commuter of 38 hours (about nine minutes per weekday) puts Austin at 15th .
Austin's congestion is heavily influenced by the presence of I-35 and all the cross-country traffic that flows through Austin on it, Lomax said.
San Antonio, by contrast, fared much better with a travel time index of 1.18 , which ranked 26th nationally , and a commuter stress index of 1.27 , which ranked 28th nationally .
"The couple of decades that (Austin) spent not building roads hoping people would not come, San Antonio spent that time building roads," he said. "They expanded I-10 and 410. They've got more ways through town."
bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698

[Shredding_Gnar78]

posted in another thread, less than a few days ago.

but ya, it sucks.