We're #7!

The Reason Foundation's list of the most traffic-packed states finds California is one of the worst -- but far from the worst (North Dakota and South Carolina take those honors):

California roads are some of the nation’s most congested, the Los Angeles-based Reason Foundation said in a survey released today. "Gridlock isn’t going away," said David T. Hartgen, the study’s lead author. "States are going to have to prioritize and direct their transportation money to projects specifically designed to reduce congestion if we are going to reverse this troubling trend." Drivers in California, Minnesota, New Jersey and North Carolina are stuck in the worst traffic, with over 70% of urban interstates in those states qualifying as congested, according to the think tank. (CNS)

The Reason Foundation said its study measured the performance of state-owned roads and highways from 1984 to 2005 in 12 categories, including traffic fatalities, congestion, pavement condition, bridge condition, highway maintenance and administrative costs, to determine each state’s ranking and cost-effectiveness.

The report found that fatality rates vary significantly from state to state. Massachusetts reported the lowest -- 0.79 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, while Montana’s roads were the deadliest, with 2.256 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles. The national average was 1.453 fatalities, up slightly from 1.440 in 2004, according to the Reason Foundation.

The study did point to some improvements, with the percentage of roads in poor condition falling sharply for both interstate highways and major rural roads. Since 1998, the percentage of poor urban interstate mileage has been reduced by 31%, according to the foundation. The number of bridges deemed deficient, meaning they are eligible for federal repair dollars, also fell slightly in 2005.

In the overall rankings, North Dakota and South Carolina took the top spots for the second consecutive year, while New Jersey’s gridlocked highways, poor pavement conditions and high repair costs put the state last in overall cost-effectiveness for the eighth consecutive year. California roads ranked as the nation’s seventh-worst.

Comments

[RIchard H]

Pg. 21 of the Report ( http://www.reason.org/ps360.pdf )

California has by far the most congested "Urban Interstates" of all the states in the United States.

Over 80% of California's Interstate Highways in urban areas are congested. Other states are at 0%. Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming.

[Richard H]

To Quote:

"The Reason Foundation's list of the most traffic-packed states finds California is one of the worst -- but far from the worst (North Dakota and South Carolina take those honors)"

A link to the Reason Foundation's summary of the report:
( http://www.reason.org/ps360/ )

A link to the full report:
( http://www.reason.org/ps360.pdf )

A link to a national map giving a state by state ranking on traffic:
( http://reason.org/ps360/performance_traffic.shtml )

North Dakota and South Carolina are the two BEST states NOT the two worst. New Jersey and (surprise!) Alaska are the two worst according to Reason Foundation. New York, Rhode Island, Hawaii and Massachusetts all rank worse than California.

[Pete McFerrin]

"Like it or not, those of us who pay more to live near work..."

In large part you're paying more because homeowners' associations won't allow the market to do what it usually does near employment clusters, which is tear down single-family houses and build apartments. Many of the big residential buildings in the Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown area were built in the '20s on the sites of what were formerly single-family houses.

There are exclusively one-story single-family neighborhoods partially or completely surrounding a considerable number of the major employment clusters in Los Angeles. Anything south of 8th in the Miracle Mile area is R-1; so is most of what surrounds Century City, the Beverly Hills portion of Wilshire, the Howard Hughes Center in Westchester, and a few other major job zones. It's absolutely ridiculous.

[Pete McFerrin]

"Question: How many fewer cars would be on the road, and, how much money (tax dollars) would be saved if all DMV tests, manuals, and other printed materials were printed only in English?"

About 10. Non-Anglophones would simply not get driver's licenses or registrations. Probably 20-25% of the drivers on the road in Los Angeles County are illegal immigrants anyway; do you think they give a damn that the DMV offers driving tests in Spanish?

[D. Mark]

Question: How many fewer cars would be on the road, and, how much money (tax dollars) would be saved if all DMV tests, manuals, and other printed materials were printed only in English?

[linda]

Our California highway system is better-designed than most, in terms of easy- to- see exit signs and on-off ramps; some states, including New Jersey, Mass and CT, have small signs and you can't cut over far enough to get to the off-ramps (though CTs newer highways are very good in that regard). And ditto in the South, which is maybe one reason they rank so low: they're not user-friendly to people just driving thru, or who have to negotiate lots of lane crosses in a short amount of time. -- But the FEds are right, that in an attempt to make more lanes, CAL has made some too narrow, e.g., the carpool lane on the 405 South, which is why I sometimes won't use it even though I can, and see others doing the same. And at night, some of our freeways like coming up from Orange County, have these narrow carpool lanes also, which are scary racing along late at night at high speeds. -- But we do need some sort of toll-road system. Mass has tolls depending on distance, regardless of time of day; if we're talking about "congestion pricing," i.e., different rates depending on time of day, I think that's pretty sensible -- it will discourage people working too far from home. Like it or not, those of us who pay more to live near work are paying for the extra road ruination, pollution etc. for the rest. -- But be sure to penalize the huge trucks, too; they wear down our roads regardless of time of day.