American
10-01-2003, 04:12 AM
TOO MANY PEOPLE!!!
Which Way To An Open Road?
October 1, 2003
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure made an announcement yesterday in Washington, D.C. A new national study on congestion found that traffic jams continue to increase across the United States.
Tell us all something we don't already know.
So, the good news is - even though drivers in the New York metro area spend an extra 43 hours a year on what should be 25-minute commutes - traffic in the New York metro area is not as bad as some urban and suburban areas in America. But, honestly, who cares?
Does it matter if the metro area ranks 27th on the list of the 75 most-congested traffic areas in the nation, far behind Los Angeles and the Bay Area of San Francisco and Oakland - that it ranks down with the likes of Indianapolis and Charlotte?
Does it matter when you are stuck in traffic on the Southern State Parkway? On the Northern State Parkway? On the Long Island Expressway? When you are stuck as most of us are most mornings and most evenings on Long Island? In bumper-to-bumper stop-and-crawl traffic?
Not at all.
What matters is that someone, somewhere, sometime figure out how to get us all out of the mess we're now in - figure out how to free us from the unfriendly confines of traffic, heavy traffic - and guide us back out onto the open road. And for all the countless millions - no one seems to know how much, exactly - spent for the Texas Transportation Institute to prepare its annual "Urban Mobility Report," it leaves us with few solutions, mostly problems.
"The purpose of it," Justin Harclerode, deputy director of communications for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said yesterday, "is to be a signpost, a guide, to the people who make transportation policy. To figure out how we're doing. ... The reaction is, I suppose, that we have to make the investment needed in our infrastructure to see the return we want."
And, in language we can all understand?
Funding under the current transportation act expires at the end of 2003. The committee wants funding of $375 billion for the next six years. The House and Senate have not yet agreed on this number - mostly because no one can figure out where that money will come from. (Likely, some will come from higher taxes on gasoline.) But the study is bng used to argue more money is needed. Because traffic, by the way, is still getting worse.
So we remind you once again that, for now, the Long Island Transportation Plan 2000 remains the only plan on the board for Long Island. And that its critics continue to argue the plan - which suggests buses called "Rapid Commute Vehicles," among its solutions - raises more issues than answers.
Until then, here is what we do know.
There are 32 economic centers on Long Island. In 1960, 216,000 Long Islanders commuted into New York City, according to Roy Fedelem, a principal planner on the Long Island Regional Planning Board. And 428,000 Long Islanders commuted within Nassau and Suffolk. In 2000, 278,000 Long Islanders commuted into New York City - and 992,000 commuted within Nassau and Suffolk.
What that means, Fedelem said, is more Long Islanders commute within our borders than ever before. That they don't travel to centralized business centers. Which makes it difficult to use mass transit.
What this translates into are horrendous hot spots on Long Island, some of the worst bng:
An average of 203,481 vehicles on the Southern State daily between Franklin Avenue and Hempstead Avenue, Exit 15 to Exit 17, according to the New York State Department of Transportation.
An average of 180,903 vehicles on the Long Island Expressway daily between Shelter Rock Road and Willis Avenue, Exit 35 and Exit 37.
An average of 154,057 vehicles on the Northern State Parkway daily at Lakeville Road, Exit 25.
An average of 125,447 vehicles on Sunrise Highway daily through Oakdale, 66,483 on Route 347 through Hauppauge and 47,844 on Hempstead Turnpike through Meadow.
And on and on and on it goes.
What the Texas Transportation Institute study found was that a driver in Los Angeles will spend 90 extra hours a year making what should be a daily 25-minute commute, while the 43 hours a driver in New York will spend is about the same as someone in Indianapolis or Palm Beach. Of course, that is our commute. It does not take into consideration our drives to the store or the mall or to take our kids to school or to just go see our friends.
"Want to know what it all comes down to?" leen Peters, spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Transportation, said. "Three words: Too many people. But if this area wasn't so popular, we wouldn't have the traffic we have.
"You could live in Timbuktu and not have to deal with it," she said. "But, would you want to?"
It is a valid point, of course. But, like the findings of the study, one we already knew. What we really need now is an answer.
When do we get that?
The Gab on Gridlock
A recent study examines traffic patterns in 75 U.S. urban areas and thr effects on commuters. The results, which were released yesterday, are summarized here.
LOST TIME:
How long the average commuter is stuck in traffic each year, by urban area*
Area Hours
1. Los Angeles 90
2. San Francisco-Oakland 68
3. Denver 64
4. Miami 63
5. Chicago (tied) 61
5. Phoenix (tied) 61
7. San Jose, Calif. 60
8. Boston (tied) 58
8. Washington, D.C. (tied) 58
8. Portland, Ore. (tied) 58
27. NEW YORK AREA 43
* Based on a 25-minute commute.
JAM SESSIONS:
Average length of daily rush period in New York area
1982 3.4 hours
1987 5.0
1992 6.0
1997 7.0
2001 7.2
WASTED GAS:
Extra fuel the average New York-area commuter uses each year thanks to gridlock
1982 10 gallons
1987 14
1992 22
1997 32
2001 41
SOURCE: 2003 Urban Mobility Study, Texas Transportation Institute
________
WEED BUBBLERS (http://bubblers.net/)
Which Way To An Open Road?
October 1, 2003
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure made an announcement yesterday in Washington, D.C. A new national study on congestion found that traffic jams continue to increase across the United States.
Tell us all something we don't already know.
So, the good news is - even though drivers in the New York metro area spend an extra 43 hours a year on what should be 25-minute commutes - traffic in the New York metro area is not as bad as some urban and suburban areas in America. But, honestly, who cares?
Does it matter if the metro area ranks 27th on the list of the 75 most-congested traffic areas in the nation, far behind Los Angeles and the Bay Area of San Francisco and Oakland - that it ranks down with the likes of Indianapolis and Charlotte?
Does it matter when you are stuck in traffic on the Southern State Parkway? On the Northern State Parkway? On the Long Island Expressway? When you are stuck as most of us are most mornings and most evenings on Long Island? In bumper-to-bumper stop-and-crawl traffic?
Not at all.
What matters is that someone, somewhere, sometime figure out how to get us all out of the mess we're now in - figure out how to free us from the unfriendly confines of traffic, heavy traffic - and guide us back out onto the open road. And for all the countless millions - no one seems to know how much, exactly - spent for the Texas Transportation Institute to prepare its annual "Urban Mobility Report," it leaves us with few solutions, mostly problems.
"The purpose of it," Justin Harclerode, deputy director of communications for the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said yesterday, "is to be a signpost, a guide, to the people who make transportation policy. To figure out how we're doing. ... The reaction is, I suppose, that we have to make the investment needed in our infrastructure to see the return we want."
And, in language we can all understand?
Funding under the current transportation act expires at the end of 2003. The committee wants funding of $375 billion for the next six years. The House and Senate have not yet agreed on this number - mostly because no one can figure out where that money will come from. (Likely, some will come from higher taxes on gasoline.) But the study is bng used to argue more money is needed. Because traffic, by the way, is still getting worse.
So we remind you once again that, for now, the Long Island Transportation Plan 2000 remains the only plan on the board for Long Island. And that its critics continue to argue the plan - which suggests buses called "Rapid Commute Vehicles," among its solutions - raises more issues than answers.
Until then, here is what we do know.
There are 32 economic centers on Long Island. In 1960, 216,000 Long Islanders commuted into New York City, according to Roy Fedelem, a principal planner on the Long Island Regional Planning Board. And 428,000 Long Islanders commuted within Nassau and Suffolk. In 2000, 278,000 Long Islanders commuted into New York City - and 992,000 commuted within Nassau and Suffolk.
What that means, Fedelem said, is more Long Islanders commute within our borders than ever before. That they don't travel to centralized business centers. Which makes it difficult to use mass transit.
What this translates into are horrendous hot spots on Long Island, some of the worst bng:
An average of 203,481 vehicles on the Southern State daily between Franklin Avenue and Hempstead Avenue, Exit 15 to Exit 17, according to the New York State Department of Transportation.
An average of 180,903 vehicles on the Long Island Expressway daily between Shelter Rock Road and Willis Avenue, Exit 35 and Exit 37.
An average of 154,057 vehicles on the Northern State Parkway daily at Lakeville Road, Exit 25.
An average of 125,447 vehicles on Sunrise Highway daily through Oakdale, 66,483 on Route 347 through Hauppauge and 47,844 on Hempstead Turnpike through Meadow.
And on and on and on it goes.
What the Texas Transportation Institute study found was that a driver in Los Angeles will spend 90 extra hours a year making what should be a daily 25-minute commute, while the 43 hours a driver in New York will spend is about the same as someone in Indianapolis or Palm Beach. Of course, that is our commute. It does not take into consideration our drives to the store or the mall or to take our kids to school or to just go see our friends.
"Want to know what it all comes down to?" leen Peters, spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Transportation, said. "Three words: Too many people. But if this area wasn't so popular, we wouldn't have the traffic we have.
"You could live in Timbuktu and not have to deal with it," she said. "But, would you want to?"
It is a valid point, of course. But, like the findings of the study, one we already knew. What we really need now is an answer.
When do we get that?
The Gab on Gridlock
A recent study examines traffic patterns in 75 U.S. urban areas and thr effects on commuters. The results, which were released yesterday, are summarized here.
LOST TIME:
How long the average commuter is stuck in traffic each year, by urban area*
Area Hours
1. Los Angeles 90
2. San Francisco-Oakland 68
3. Denver 64
4. Miami 63
5. Chicago (tied) 61
5. Phoenix (tied) 61
7. San Jose, Calif. 60
8. Boston (tied) 58
8. Washington, D.C. (tied) 58
8. Portland, Ore. (tied) 58
27. NEW YORK AREA 43
* Based on a 25-minute commute.
JAM SESSIONS:
Average length of daily rush period in New York area
1982 3.4 hours
1987 5.0
1992 6.0
1997 7.0
2001 7.2
WASTED GAS:
Extra fuel the average New York-area commuter uses each year thanks to gridlock
1982 10 gallons
1987 14
1992 22
1997 32
2001 41
SOURCE: 2003 Urban Mobility Study, Texas Transportation Institute
________
WEED BUBBLERS (http://bubblers.net/)