Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Columnist Susan Snyder: Looking for inroads to ease traffic

For a while now, the scariest thing to come out of Texas has been in the White House.

Or maybe corn dogs.

But now we have a report from the Texas Transportation Institute that says nationally we're wasting billions of dollars and hundreds of hours by sitting in traffic.

The 93-page document is packed with some stupefying numbers. In 2001:

We spent 26 hours, on average, stuck in traffic.

We wasted 5.7 billion gallons of gasoline.

And we paid $69.5 billion for the privilege.

In Las Vegas:

We spent 16 hours, on average, stuck in traffic.

We wasted 32 million gallons of gasoline.

And we paid $393 million for the privilege.

I don't know about you, but I really would like a few of those 16 hours back. I have laundry to do.

Las Vegas was ranked 18th on the list of cities with the longest waits. But deeper into the document are sections addressing how well strategies for reducing traffic congestion actually work.

Take adding roads, for instance. We seem to do a lot of that.

In looking at areas of rapid population and economic growth (Las Vegas), the report says it became clear that such growth could not happen without a significant increase in traffic congestion.

The amount of time wasted in traffic during congested times of day does increase at a slower rate when roads are added, the report says. But the amount of time spent sitting in traffic still increases.

"It is clear that adding a roadway at about the same rate as traffic grows will slow the growth of congestion," the report says. "It is equally clear, however, that only five of the 75 areas studied were able to achieve that rate."

Clearly, building roads isn't a solution by itself.

"The analysis shows that it would be almost impossible to attempt to maintain a constant congestion level with road construction only," the report says. And it "would require at least twice the level of current-day road expansion funding" to build enough.

Nevada lawmakers plan to spend $2.7 billion -- billion -- over the next 25 years on transportation improvements.

Times two?

How about adding in carpools and mass transit? The study says Americans would have to make 6.1 million trips in carpools or on buses in the study areas in order to handle the 46.9 million additional miles of travel needed just to maintain current congestion levels.

These numbers are scary because of what they don't tell us. They don't show us how much of our wait is because of long commutes from sprawling suburbs. And they don't emphasize reducing congestion. They tell us what choices will help maintain current levels.

Is that really our goal?

So while we wait for public officials to find the right configuration of options and the money to pay for them, maybe we can make some choices for ourselves. We can avoid rush hours by leaving earlier or later. We can telecommute.

Texas has shown us there are some things scarier than riding a bus.

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