Study finds California urban congestion still tops the nation

The Reason Foundation, the group that promotes libertarian values, just released its annual highway report. California, predictably, had the worst urban freeway congestion -- along with Minnesota and North Carolina -- but the 9th fewest deficient bridges. The state's urban freeways also ranked 48th in terms of their condition. Only New Jersey and Hawaii were worse in that category.

Here's an excerpt:

Despite welcome progress, the study highlights continuing problems. Just under one-quarter of all bridges remain deficient; 50 percent of urban interstates remain congested; accident rates are stubbornly high; and substantial urban interstate mileage remains in poor condition. The recent sharp increases in highway construction costs mean that fewer repairs can be made from the same dollars. 

This is the key passage from the report, basically saying these are really hard problems to solve:

Another emerging issue in this long-term data is the question of appropriate goals. There is increasing evidence that some measures may have essentially irreducible ‘bottoms’ below which it may not be realistic to go. Since 2000, urban interstate congestion has hovered around 50 percent; the percent of rural primary roads in poor condition has remained near 0.75 percent; the percent of rural interstates in poor condition has remained near 2 percent; and the percent of rural primary roads with narrow lanes has remained close to 10 percent.

Although some states have achieved remarkably lower statistics, overall, the nation has found it difficult to reducer these statistics even though dollars have substantially increased. This suggests that combinations of system condition, unit costs, and background trends, such as traffic, make further progress problematic. On the other hand, substantial progress still seems possible for reducing accident rates, improving bridges, and improving urban interstate condition.

The whole report can be found by clicking here. The group also has a neat Google map with their findings.

Although the Reason Foundation certainly has a distinct political viewpoint, there really isn't much politics in their report. The group is also a big proponent of congestion pricing, as are many other organizations across the political spectrum.

--Steve Hymon