The TDM Professional

State of the Commute #4: Employer Provided Benefits Help Fight Congestion

Following up on our last report about plentiful free parking at the work site from MWCOG's State of the Commute 2007 (Free Parking Still Plentiful, July 22, 2007) comes companion information about the amount and kind of commuter benefits/services provided to employees by their employers. Says MWCOG:

• 54 percent of respondents said their employers offered one or more alternative mode incentives or support services at their worksite. The same percentage as in the 2004 survey.
• This is significantly higher than the 30 to 40 percent found in other metropolitan areas around the country.
• The most common service was Metrocheck (33%), commute information (20%), services for bikers and walkers (17%), preferential parking for car/vanpools (16%), guaranteed ride home for emergencies/unscheduled overtime (12%), and financial incentives/subsidies for carpooling (5%).
• 76 percent of Federal employees were offered the Metrocheck transit/vanpool benefit while only 18% of state/local government employees were. 37 percent of non-profit and 20% of private sector employees were offered the same.
• The larger the employer, the more likely they were to offer commuter services/benefits. This was the case in all categories of services offered. For example if the company was 1,000+ employees then 60% were offered Metrochek, 251-999 employees were 47%, 101-250 were 31% and 1-100 was 23%.
• In analyzing Commuter Incentives/Support and Parking by employer location, COG divided the region into three categories as follows: Core (D.C., Arlington, Alexandria); Middle Ring (Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George's counties); Outer Ring (Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Loudoun and Prince William counties). The data is as follows:

Commuter Services Offered by Employer Location

                                      Core     Middle  Outer
Incentives/Support
Metrochek                        78%      50%      27%
Information                      36%      38%      32%
Preferential parking          27%      33%      27%
GRH                                18%       26%     36%
Bike/walk services           33%       34%     27%
Carpool Subsidy                 7%         7%       7%

Parking Services
Free parking                    41%       76%     80%
Employee pays some/all    48%      10%       7%
No parking, don't know     11%        4%       3%

More results:

• When asked if when their employer offers the service if they in fact use it 40% of commuters took advantage of Metrochek when it was offered, 46% used commute information, 20% preferential parking, 24% GRH, 12% bike/walk services and 15% carpool subsidies.

Bottom line results
Respondents whose employers provided alternative mode incentives and support services were less likely to drive alone (62%) than were respondents whose employers did not provide these services (78%). Rates of use for alternative modes was also higher at sites where these services were offered, especially train (Metrorail, MARC, VRE) use. The report points out that the differences are statistically significant but it is not possible to say that the availability of these services was the only or even primary reason for the difference in mode use. Location (core, inner and outer rings) is a factor. And so is parking. Taken all together this helps provide a better picture on the why.

Incentives/  Drive    CP/
Support       Alone     VP      Bus   Train    B/W
Yes               62%      9%      5%     19%      3%
No                 78%     5%      4%       6%      2%
Free
Parking                                                     _
Yes               83%       6%     3%       4%       2%
No                48%     10%     8%      26%      3%

What's it mean?
The survey helps provide a picture or snapshot of the state of the commute in our region and provides needed information for area transportation officials to help address congestion and mobility issues. We'll continue to bring you information from this 100+ page report. The data on employer provided commuter benefits and parking suggests that our toolbox for fighting congestion should include helping employers provide these kind of programs, because when they implement these programs it makes a significant difference. An excellent example of the kind of service provided to local employer's would be Arlington County Commuter Services' Arlington Transportation Partners program. Other local jurisdictions provide help to employers too and you can find links here. We hope to dive deeper into the stats and ask the consultants to help us do so. As we find out more we'll share it with you. For some other local research visit our TDM Research Center.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Following up on our last report about plentiful free parking at the work site from MWCOG's State of the Commute 2007 (Free Parking Still Plentiful, July 22, 2007) comes companion information about the amount and kind of commuter benefits/services provided to employees by their employers. Says MWCOG:

• 54 percent of respondents said their employers offered one or more alternative mode incentives or support services at their worksite. The same percentage as in the 2004 survey.
• This is significantly higher than the 30 to 40 percent found in other metropolitan areas around the country.
• The most common service was Metrocheck (33%), commute information (20%), services for bikers and walkers (17%), preferential parking for car/vanpools (16%), guaranteed ride home for emergencies/unscheduled overtime (12%), and financial incentives/subsidies for carpooling (5%).
• 76 percent of Federal employees were offered the Metrocheck transit/vanpool benefit while only 18% of state/local government employees were. 37 percent of non-profit and 20% of private sector employees were offered the same.
• The larger the employer, the more likely they were to offer commuter services/benefits. This was the case in all categories of services offered. For example if the company was 1,000+ employees then 60% were offered Metrochek, 251-999 employees were 47%, 101-250 were 31% and 1-100 was 23%.
• In analyzing Commuter Incentives/Support and Parking by employer location, COG divided the region into three categories as follows: Core (D.C., Arlington, Alexandria); Middle Ring (Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George's counties); Outer Ring (Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Loudoun and Prince William counties). The data is as follows:

Commuter Services Offered by Employer Location

                                      Core     Middle  Outer
Incentives/Support
Metrochek                        78%      50%      27%
Information                      36%      38%      32%
Preferential parking          27%      33%      27%
GRH                                18%       26%     36%
Bike/walk services           33%       34%     27%
Carpool Subsidy                 7%         7%       7%

Parking Services
Free parking                    41%       76%     80%
Employee pays some/all    48%      10%       7%
No parking, don't know     11%        4%       3%

More results:

• When asked if when their employer offers the service if they in fact use it 40% of commuters took advantage of Metrochek when it was offered, 46% used commute information, 20% preferential parking, 24% GRH, 12% bike/walk services and 15% carpool subsidies.

Bottom line results
Respondents whose employers provided alternative mode incentives and support services were less likely to drive alone (62%) than were respondents whose employers did not provide these services (78%). Rates of use for alternative modes was also higher at sites where these services were offered, especially train (Metrorail, MARC, VRE) use. The report points out that the differences are statistically significant but it is not possible to say that the availability of these services was the only or even primary reason for the difference in mode use. Location (core, inner and outer rings) is a factor. And so is parking. Taken all together this helps provide a better picture on the why.

Incentives/  Drive    CP/
Support       Alone     VP      Bus   Train    B/W
Yes               62%      9%      5%     19%      3%
No                 78%     5%      4%       6%      2%
Free
Parking                                                     _
Yes               83%       6%     3%       4%       2%
No                48%     10%     8%      26%      3%

What's it mean?
The survey helps provide a picture or snapshot of the state of the commute in our region and provides needed information for area transportation officials to help address congestion and mobility issues. We'll continue to bring you information from this 100+ page report. The data on employer provided commuter benefits and parking suggests that our toolbox for fighting congestion should include helping employers provide these kind of programs, because when they implement these programs it makes a significant difference. An excellent example of the kind of service provided to local employer's would be Arlington County Commuter Services' Arlington Transportation Partners program. Other local jurisdictions provide help to employers too and you can find links here. We hope to dive deeper into the stats and ask the consultants to help us do so. As we find out more we'll share it with you. For some other local research visit our TDM Research Center.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Concstruction Projects Could Make Region's Congestion Worse

Washington Post reporter Eric Weiss paints a vivid picture today (Five-Year Forecast: Get Ready, Set...Sit, July 29, 2007) of the torture that could await commuters around the region as a half-dozen mega-transportation projects such as the ICC, Metrorail to Tysons Corner, new toll lanes on the Beltway and new bridge projects combined with lots of smaller projects are projected to create traffic jams everywhere. An influx of funding and political will has come together in Maryland, D.C. and especially Virginia to create this situation that Weiss describes as coming to a head over the next five years.

Things will be so bad in Virginia that the State has  appointed a "Transportation Czar" Ronaldo T. "Nick" Nickolson. He says his main job will be to "coordinate the timing of the work to minimize disruptions" and "to respond to accidents or breakdowns."

Neither Mr. Nickolson nor the other experts that Mr. Weiss talks to mention using any TDM measures to try and reduce the expected traffic jams though. The emphasis seems to be on timing and incident management. True enough that these things are needed. But with billions of dollars being spent on these projects, couldn't additional millions be set aside for Commuter Connections and all the local TDM agencies to help promote carpooling, vanpooling, biking, walking, transit and telecommuting to lessen the load on the roads? If another $20 million dollars were spread around the region annually for TDM it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money being spent on building and maintaining all the road and transit infrastructure throughout the region and it should reap rewards in further reducing the number of vehicles on the roads and helping to ease congestion as these projects get started.

Recent survey results from MWCOG's State of the Commute 2007 indicate that TDM could help (Employer Provided Benefits Could Help Fight Congestion, July 25, 2007; Free Parking Still Plentiful, July 22, 2007; Telework Rising Dramatically in D.C. Area; July 20, 2007; D.C. Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down!, July 18, 2007). Problem is most of these TDM programs are woefully underfunded. Let's hope the region's leaders do something about it or as Mr. Weiss points out people will be sitting in a gridlock situation.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Washington Post reporter Eric Weiss paints a vivid picture today (Five-Year Forecast: Get Ready, Set...Sit, July 29, 2007) of the torture that could await commuters around the region as a half-dozen mega-transportation projects such as the ICC, Metrorail to Tysons Corner, new toll lanes on the Beltway and new bridge projects combined with lots of smaller projects are projected to create traffic jams everywhere. An influx of funding and political will has come together in Maryland, D.C. and especially Virginia to create this situation that Weiss describes as coming to a head over the next five years.

Things will be so bad in Virginia that the State has  appointed a "Transportation Czar" Ronaldo T. "Nick" Nickolson. He says his main job will be to "coordinate the timing of the work to minimize disruptions" and "to respond to accidents or breakdowns."

Neither Mr. Nickolson nor the other experts that Mr. Weiss talks to mention using any TDM measures to try and reduce the expected traffic jams though. The emphasis seems to be on timing and incident management. True enough that these things are needed. But with billions of dollars being spent on these projects, couldn't additional millions be set aside for Commuter Connections and all the local TDM agencies to help promote carpooling, vanpooling, biking, walking, transit and telecommuting to lessen the load on the roads? If another $20 million dollars were spread around the region annually for TDM it would be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money being spent on building and maintaining all the road and transit infrastructure throughout the region and it should reap rewards in further reducing the number of vehicles on the roads and helping to ease congestion as these projects get started.

Recent survey results from MWCOG's State of the Commute 2007 indicate that TDM could help (Employer Provided Benefits Could Help Fight Congestion, July 25, 2007; Free Parking Still Plentiful, July 22, 2007; Telework Rising Dramatically in D.C. Area; July 20, 2007; D.C. Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down!, July 18, 2007). Problem is most of these TDM programs are woefully underfunded. Let's hope the region's leaders do something about it or as Mr. Weiss points out people will be sitting in a gridlock situation.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

State of the Commute 2007 #3: Free Parking Still Plentiful

Continuing with more information from MWCOG's recently released State of the Commute 2007 survey (Telework "Rising Dramatically" in D.C. Area, July 20, 2007 and D.C. Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down!, July 18, 2007) comes news that area employers are still providing scads of free parking. According to the report, sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents said their employers offered free, on-site (65%) or off-site (4%) parking, the same percentage as reported in 2004 (69%) and in 2001 (68%).

Federal agency employees were least likely to have free parking (53%) compared with more than seventy percent (70%) of employees working for private firms and eighty-three percent (83%) who worked for state/local governments. COG notes that free parking was much less common in the core area of the region, where only four in ten of respondents had free parking compared to three quarters outside of the core.

Twenty-one (21%) percent of employees said that they are responsible for paying all parking charges, nearly the same as the past two surveys (21% in 2004 and 23% in 2001). Fifteen percent said they were provided discounts for car/vanpooling and seven percent said they shared parking costs with their employers. These numbers were also are near identical to the surveys done in 2004 and 2001.

I think it is a bit surprising that the drive alone rate is trending slightly down and the rate of train, bus, car/vanpool and bike/walk are all up despite the fact that the rate of employer provided parking has remained steady over the past three surveys. I believe a bigger dent could be made in congestion by bringing that drive alone rate down if the rate of free parking could be brought down (while providing corresponding commuter benefits - which will be the subject of the next State of the Commuter post).

And why do more than half of Federal employees still have free parking?

More information on Parking Mangement for employers.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

TDM Folks Take a Bow for Helping To Reduce Drive Alone Rate

The D.C. Examiner's Sprawl and Crawl reporter Steve Eldridge (pictured here) gives some credit to local TDM agencies in his column about the area's drive alone rate going down (Survey: Fewer D.C. Commuter Take Lonely Road, July 20, 2007; Examiner) this morning. Mr. Eldridge cites MWCOG Commuter Connections State of the Commuter 2007 survey results that report the drive alone rate in the region has gone down to 71 percent from 74.1 percent in the 2004 survey and mentions how this goes against the national upward trend of the drive alone rate now at 77%. Says Mr. Eldridge:

"These numbers show that the money being spent in this region to provide alternatives for commuting is paying dividends."

I believe us TDM practitioners should take this as a compliment for the work we do. We certainly have played our part in concert with the folks who put the transportation options infrastructure (transit, HOV lanes, P&R lots, etc.) on the street. TDM folks take a bow. And now let's get back to work and reduce that 71%!

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

State of the Commute 2007 #2: Telework "Rising Dramatically" in D.C. Area

According to a just released survey of commuters from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) the percentage of commuters teleworking in the Washington, D.C. area has jumped from 13% to 19% in just three years. Following up on our story of a couple days ago (D.C. Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down!, July 18, 2007) comes more good news from the Preliminary Draft Commuter Connections State of the Commuter 2007 Survey Technical Report prepared for the MWCOG's Commuter Connections program by LDA Consulting with CIC Research.

According to COG's July 18 press release that accompanied the report, the third "State of the Commute" survey reveals that 19 percent of commuters in the region have teleworked, or performed their regular office duties from home in 2007 and that this is a significant change from 2004, when 13 percent of respondents said they teleworked. Other telework highlights from the survey:

• Telecommuters worked from home for an average of 1.5 days per week.
• 24 percent of those who did not telecommute said they would choose to do so if employers were to give them the opportunity.
• 40 percent of those who do work from home said their employer offer formal programs - compared to 32 percent in 2004 and 27 percent in 2001.
• 16 percent of respondents who worked for federal agencies teleworked, compared to 12 percent in 2004 and 7 percent in 2001.
• 21% of private/non-profit employers teleworked compared to 15% in 2004
• Only 7% of State and local agency employees teleworked as compared to 6% in 2004.

The amazing number is that those 24 percent of non-teleworkers who wish they could represent 570,000 people. Imagine if they all telecommuted 1.5 days a week too?

Why are more people doing this? Our guess would be technology has allowed more and more people to do so and that more and more employers are getting comfortable with this over time. Other theories?

For more information on telework visit these resources:

• For employers
• For Individuals

We promise to bring you more information from the 100+ page State of the Commute 2007 survey over the coming weeks.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

According to a just released survey of commuters from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) the percentage of commuters teleworking in the Washington, D.C. area has jumped from 13% to 19% in just three years. Following up on our story of a couple days ago (D.C. Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down!, July 18, 2007) comes more good news from the Preliminary Draft Commuter Connections State of the Commuter 2007 Survey Technical Report prepared for the MWCOG's Commuter Connections program by LDA Consulting with CIC Research.

According to COG's July 18 press release that accompanied the report, the third "State of the Commute" survey reveals that 19 percent of commuters in the region have teleworked, or performed their regular office duties from home in 2007 and that this is a significant change from 2004, when 13 percent of respondents said they teleworked. Other telework highlights from the survey:

• Telecommuters worked from home for an average of 1.5 days per week.
• 24 percent of those who did not telecommute said they would choose to do so if employers were to give them the opportunity.
• 40 percent of those who do work from home said their employer offer formal programs - compared to 32 percent in 2004 and 27 percent in 2001.
• 16 percent of respondents who worked for federal agencies teleworked, compared to 12 percent in 2004 and 7 percent in 2001.
• 21% of private/non-profit employers teleworked compared to 15% in 2004
• Only 7% of State and local agency employees teleworked as compared to 6% in 2004.

The amazing number is that those 24 percent of non-teleworkers who wish they could represent 570,000 people. Imagine if they all telecommuted 1.5 days a week too?

Why are more people doing this? Our guess would be technology has allowed more and more people to do so and that more and more employers are getting comfortable with this over time. Other theories?

For more information on telework visit these resources:

• For employers
• For Individuals

We promise to bring you more information from the 100+ page State of the Commute 2007 survey over the coming weeks.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

State of the Commute 2007 #1: D.C. Region's Drive Alone Rate Goes Down!

Based upon recent 2005 Census Data we asked the question a few weeks ago: "Could the region's drive alone rate be going down?" (Could Region's Drive Alone Rate Be Going Down? June 19, 2007) We didn't have data on a regional level, but surmised that by looking at each of the local jurisdiction's drive alone rates that on balance things had slightly improved since 2000 in the area on the whole. Now we have an answer.

According to a just released (July 18, 2007) Preliminary Draft Commuter Connections State of the Commute Survey 2007 Survey Technical Report, the answer is yes. The report, prepared for the Commuter Connections program of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) by LDA Consulting with CIC Research says that as a percentage of weekly commute trips made to job locations outside the home in 2007 that 71% of the region's commuters drove alone. This compares to 74.1% in the 2004 State of the Commute Survey and 72.6% in the 2001 survey.

This COG survey seems to corroborate the data from the Census showing that our region is bucking the national trend which said that the drive alone rate had gone up and was now at 77%. All modes other than drive alone also increased:

Mode              2001      2004     2007

Drive Alone     72.6%    74.1%    71.0%
Train              12.7%    12.8%    13.5%
Car/vanpool      7.6%     6.1%      7.6%
Bus                   4.6%     4.7%      5.2%
Bike/Walk         2.4%     2.7%      2.7%

We've known that transit ridership had been increasing as we've received reports from WMATA and the local bus agencies. Across the country transit has held steady and carpooling has dropped, so the fact that the region's carpool number has maintained 2001 levels is a good thing.

There's a wealth of data that appears in this 100+ page report and as we get a chance to take a closer look at it we'll bring you some updates over the next few days and weeks.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Transportation Options Go Green - Tools from Live Earth

Yesterday's Live Earth concert called attention to the climate crisis and their website provides solutions so that you can learn how to do your part to save the planet. You can start by taking a 3-minute interactive quiz and finding out "What's Your Live Impact?" score. The quiz asks questions about your home, job, shopping, transportation and community to measure your impact on the environment. Along the way, you'll be asked if you want to make a pledge to change something such as using CFL light bulbs or to share the ride one day a week. What's your score? You can also make a public commitment to do something and add your name to the list of people willing to help.

In promoting their Global Warming Survival Handbook they provide some teasers on the web site about some of the solutions you'll find inside. Those include solutions sections on:

No. 5: Sub-Size It - don't buy big cars.
No. 6: Green Your Car - small changes can save tons of CO2.
No. 21: Work at Home - commute to your home office.
No. 35: Ride a Bike - using one will keep you healthy and happy.
No. 36: Decongest Downtown - policies for minimizing car use can make cities healthier and more pleasant.
No. 42: Share the Driving - feel the guilt when you drive solo?

Sounds like an interesting book. It's good to see that sharing the ride, riding your bike or walking and taking mass transit instead of driving alone is hitting the mainstream as being green and doing your part to help the planet. Let's hope this new public consciousness about the impacts of how we travel leads more people to consider using these options for even some of their trips. Every bit helps our environment, decreases congestion and improves our quality of life. 

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

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Traffic Chocked Mexico City Sets 5% Trip By Bike Goal - Can We Do That?

Arlington Bike Planner Charlie Denney points us to a fun front-page story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune (Mexico City's Hopes Riding On Two Wheels, by S. Lynne Walker, July 2, 2007) about Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard's (pictured here in center) efforts at inspiring the city's 9 million residents to cut gas consumption and use bicycles or public transportation in a city where people are notoriously wedded to their vehicles. And the Mayor sets the tone by riding his bike to work and decreeing that all his top administrators will too.

The article points out that while no one expects their efforts to bring a flood of bicycles into Mexico City's crowded streets, the program has sparked a nation-wide discussion about the auto congestion and pollution that are choking the capital city.

One idea. Ebrard's government has closed the downtown thoroughfares to vehicles traffic on Sundays. This was modeled after a program in Guadalajara where bikes on Sunday grew from 5,000 to now over 100,000 people every Sunday. Mexico City also plans to build 186 miles of bike lanes, install bike racks at Metro stations and outside hundreds of City buildings and have even started a loan program so people can buy bikes. Only about 0.7 percent of people use the bikes for transportation. The Mayor's goal is to get that number to 5 percent by the end of his term in 2012. A worthy goal indeed. Can we do that here? We're certainly going to try. Perhaps some local pols would like to set a target number for us to strive for.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

Arlington Bike Planner Charlie Denney points us to a fun front-page story in today's San Diego Union-Tribune (Mexico City's Hopes Riding On Two Wheels, by S. Lynne Walker, July 2, 2007) about Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard's (pictured here in center) efforts at inspiring the city's 9 million residents to cut gas consumption and use bicycles or public transportation in a city where people are notoriously wedded to their vehicles. And the Mayor sets the tone by riding his bike to work and decreeing that all his top administrators will too.

The article points out that while no one expects their efforts to bring a flood of bicycles into Mexico City's crowded streets, the program has sparked a nation-wide discussion about the auto congestion and pollution that are choking the capital city.

One idea. Ebrard's government has closed the downtown thoroughfares to vehicles traffic on Sundays. This was modeled after a program in Guadalajara where bikes on Sunday grew from 5,000 to now over 100,000 people every Sunday. Mexico City also plans to build 186 miles of bike lanes, install bike racks at Metro stations and outside hundreds of City buildings and have even started a loan program so people can buy bikes. Only about 0.7 percent of people use the bikes for transportation. The Mayor's goal is to get that number to 5 percent by the end of his term in 2012. A worthy goal indeed. Can we do that here? We're certainly going to try. Perhaps some local pols would like to set a target number for us to strive for.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

More Data on Congestion

The Reason Foundation, a non-profit libertarian think tank out of Los Angeles and "dedicated to advancing free markets and free ideas" just released a study (16th Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems (1984-2005), Press Release; June 28, 2007) saying that road conditions are improving but traffic congestion and highway fatalities are rising.

The congestion numbers are interesting but not surprising. The report says that 2005 statistics show that 51.85% of the nation's urban interstates are congested, up slightly from 2004's 51.60%. For the traffic engineers out there this means that 8,051 miles out of 15,528 were rated as having volume/capacity ratios greater than 0.70 - the standard for mild congestion. The State Congestion Rankings:

Rank/State    % Congested

1. Montana            0.00
1. North Dakota     0.00
1. South Dakota     0.00
1. Wyoming           0.00
5. Maine                2.94
6. W. Virginia        3.80
7. Vermont            5.00
8. Alaska               8.70
9. New Mexico     16.77
10. Kansas          24.77

21. Virginia         42.54

46. Maryland       68.58
47. N. Carolina    72.47
48. New Jersey    73.35
49. Minnesota     77.80
50. California      83.33

It would have been nice to have seen the data for urban regions as well as for states but other folks put that information out on a regular basis. This just adds to the data pile. A PDF of the entire 50 page report is here. You can also find an interactive map and Excel tables here to do your own sorting.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria

The Reason Foundation, a non-profit libertarian think tank out of Los Angeles and "dedicated to advancing free markets and free ideas" just released a study (16th Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems (1984-2005), Press Release; June 28, 2007) saying that road conditions are improving but traffic congestion and highway fatalities are rising.

The congestion numbers are interesting but not surprising. The report says that 2005 statistics show that 51.85% of the nation's urban interstates are congested, up slightly from 2004's 51.60%. For the traffic engineers out there this means that 8,051 miles out of 15,528 were rated as having volume/capacity ratios greater than 0.70 - the standard for mild congestion. The State Congestion Rankings:

Rank/State    % Congested

1. Montana            0.00
1. North Dakota     0.00
1. South Dakota     0.00
1. Wyoming           0.00
5. Maine                2.94
6. W. Virginia        3.80
7. Vermont            5.00
8. Alaska               8.70
9. New Mexico     16.77
10. Kansas          24.77

21. Virginia         42.54

46. Maryland       68.58
47. N. Carolina    72.47
48. New Jersey    73.35
49. Minnesota     77.80
50. California      83.33

It would have been nice to have seen the data for urban regions as well as for states but other folks put that information out on a regular basis. This just adds to the data pile. A PDF of the entire 50 page report is here. You can also find an interactive map and Excel tables here to do your own sorting.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria