[BPt111]

Commuters in the Bridgeport metropolitan area took an extra week of vacation last year, only they spent it sitting in traffic.
The achingly slow crawls south at sunrise and north at night may be nothing new for commuters in southwestern Connecticut but they are getting worse.
So says a report issued Wednesday by INRIX, a traffic services provider based in Washington, that ranked traffic in the Bridgeport metropolitan area as the sixth worst in the nation in 2012.
All that time sipping coffee and listening to talk radio behind the wheel added up to an average of 39 hours per commuter last year, according to the report.
And drive-time is only getting drearier.
According to data released by INRIX, commuters found themselves in traffic for 16 percent more time in the first three months of 2013 than they did in the first quarter of 2012.
None of that is news to Dave Salpietro, a commercial roofer from Norwich who works out of Bridgeport and stopped to gas up at the Mobil station on Interstate 95 north in Fairfield on Wednesday.
Working at times as far north as Massachusetts and as far south as New Jersey, he's gotten painfully familiar with the ebb and flow of I-95's congestion over the years.
"If I go to work and I head north it's not a problem. If I've got to head south -- can't do it," he said. "Once you start hitting 6:30, 7 o'clock (am) at exit 25 in Bridgeport -- that's it."
But that's actually a good thing, at least as far as the authors of the report are concerned.
Though the effect can be aggravating, the cause of increased traffic is one the metro area and country have been clamoring for for years: economic growth.
Ultimately, as more people find work more commuters have to hit the highway and traffic congestion increases.
Across the country, congestion on commuter corridors in each of the first three months of this year increased over levels recorded in 2012, which falls in line with a 1.3 percent increase in employment over that time, the report claims.
"While bad news for drivers, the gains we've seen in the U.S. ... are cause for some optimism about the direction of the economy," Bryan Mistele, INRIX president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.
Wondering which are the worst times to drive in the area?
If you're heading north on I-95, it will take the entire 5 p.m. hour on Fridays to drive the 22.2 miles from exit 2 in Greenwich to exit 21 in Fairfield. Moving at a speed of just over 20 mph, that amounts to about a 40 minute delay, according to data compiled by INRIX.
That trip made the I-95 north corridor in southwestern Connecticut the 42nd most congested corridor in the country in 2012.
"Friday night's terrible," Salpietro said. "Coming up 95 I've had it take me four or five hours to Bridgeport from the New York line."
The Merrit Parkway was a bit more forgiving in 2012. According to INRIX, the longest drives home on Route 15 north occur in the 4 p.m. hour on Fridays, during which commuters will spend about 30 minutes travelling the 12.8 miles from exit 33 to exit 42 -- amounting to a 20-minute delay.
That trip made the Merrit the 120th most congested corridor in the country in 2012.
It may not feel like it, but the numbers show the morning commute to be a bit easier.
Driving south on I-95 from exit 20 to exit 13 -- a distance of 10.8 miles -- during the 8 a.m. hour on Thursdays would take between 20 and 30 minutes at an average speed of about 30 mph, making for a delay of about 15 minutes.
That trip stood out as only the 154th worst in the country last year.


Read more: BPT area's traffic 6th worst in nation - Connecticut Post

[Stylo]

Uh, the data seems really off. Greenwich to Bridgeport at rush hour on Friday afternoons takes longer than an hour. Also, the Merritt at 154th worst and only a 20-30 minute delay? I call shenanigans.

Also, Bridgeport can be bad - but Stamford/Norwalk are much worse.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Uh, the data seems really off. Greenwich to Bridgeport at rush hour on Friday afternoons takes longer than an hour. Also, the Merritt at 154th worst and only a 20-30 minute delay? I call shenanigans.

Also, Bridgeport can be bad - but Stamford/Norwalk are much worse.

Agreed.

[Cambium]

When this came out
The worst traffic In America? It's not Los Angeles - Yahoo! Autos

I was going on about how they said there was 42 wasted hours in a year for Bridgeport area and they just used a certain time frame on the road. Original Thread here

I've grown over the years to completely hate all studies. It's almost like no thought goes into these studies and the truth actually is missing.

It's sad enough to be 5th or 6th but if one travels the road as much as I do they will realize its anytime of the day and not just peak hours. Plus the amount of congestion and the amount of time it takes for "mileage distance" is really really sad around here.

But just to be in Top 5 or 10 out of all cities in America goes to show something is really wrong and that can't be denied.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Cambium

But just to be in Top 5 or 10 out of all cities in America goes to show something is really wrong and that can't be denied.

Precisely. I don't trust all studies, but when all taken into account, we're usually in the top 5. The fact that we're the only suburban area that made the list is pretty eye-opening.

That being said, one thing I noticed is all of the cities on the list have good economies. That's a silver lining.

[Comp625]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Uh, the data seems really off. Greenwich to Bridgeport at rush hour on Friday afternoons takes longer than an hour. Also, the Merritt at 154th worst and only a 20-30 minute delay? I call shenanigans.

Also, Bridgeport can be bad - but Stamford/Norwalk are much worse.

Completely agree; the traffic trends worsen as you get closer to the NY border.

The study's traffic estimates are definitely off in comparison to "real-life" scenarios.

However, to the study's credit, I wonder if "light-traffic" days was what brought down the average commute time (e.g. commutes on Black Friday, Columbus Day, etc.). Basically, commute time is minimized on days in which only some of the workforce have to go in, but not everyone.

[Stylo]

No idea. Maybe it was conducted in the winter low traffic times when Friday commutes aren't that bad.

[clutchrider]

I used to be stuck in this traffic. I commuted from Milford to Norwalk everyday, require a parkway ride down to exit 40 or taking 95 down to the 7 connector. Either way it was on a good day 50 minutes and could sometimes take almost 2 hours or more depending. Plus it was a 70 mile roundtrip commute.

I then moved to East Haven so now I was dealing with the Q Bridge, then connecting to the parkway in Milford which just made it that much worse. I altered my work schedule to be 730-4 so I could get a little head start but that usually did not work well. Finally two years ago I job hunted (hate my current work/commute scenario) and now take quick ride onto the Q (still jammed) but then to 91N exit 10. It very rarely is backed up and if it is there is a nice alternate route by taking Quinnipiac Ave which moves pretty well. My commute has crashed to 12 miles and about 15 minutes average.

Also we are moving right off exit 11 so the commute now will require no highway and a 5 minute backroad trip. Cannot wait!

We avoided FFC completely when home searching because the taxes are ludicrous for what you get in comparison to North Haven, Wallingford, Branford, N Branford area. Everything just North and East of New Haven is a much nicer place to settle down IMO.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by clutchrider

We avoided FFC completely when home searching because the taxes are ludicrous for what you get in comparison to North Haven, Wallingford, Branford, N Branford area. Everything just North and East of New Haven is a much nicer place to settle down IMO.

I generally like the towns east of New Haven too, but the mil rates are much lower in Fairfield County, believe it or not.

[Stylo]

Kid is right, the mill rate is pretty low in most FFC towns. It's the high values that make for big taxes.