Traffic Congestion Intensifies in California Cities

    SACRAMENTO, Calif.--June 20, 2002--Acute traffic congestion, once just the bane of Los Angeles drivers, continues to spread and increase throughout California's cities and suburbs.
    Three California cities continue to rank in the top ten on the Texas Transportation Institute's list of most congested cities in the United States. A total of six are in the top 25, and congestion levels have increased broadly throughout the state.
    The Institute's report, which often echoes the news of the previous year, contains surprises. In Northern California, traffic congestion in San Jose shot that city from 15th place last year to ninth place this year. And in Southern California, the Los Angeles-Orange County region presented a surprise. While it remained the number one most congested urban area in the country, the delay the average traveler experienced during peak travel times actually decreased slightly between 1990 and 2000, by one hour per year.
    That was the good news. Around the state, however, delays experienced during peak travel time increased dramatically between 1990 and 2000 in other urban areas studied by the Texas Transportation Institute.
    The longest delays remain in the Los Angeles area -- 136 hours per year, on average per driver, in peak hours. San Francisco-Oakland drivers put up with 92 hours of delays, and San Jose drivers endure 74 hours of delays. Inland Empire drivers are delayed by 64 hours, and San Diego drivers are delayed by 51 hours a year.
    The nation's worst 10 urban areas, in order of rank, are: Los Angeles; San Francisco-Oakland; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Boston; Miami-Hialeah; Seattle-Everett; Denver; San Jose; and New York-Northeastern N.J. The list places San Diego at 16, San Bernardino-Riverside at 20 and Sacramento at 22.
    "This worsening of traffic congestion leads to even more intense wear and tear on the road and highway system, and in costs to drivers," said Bert Sandman, chairman of Transportation California. The total cost of traffic congestion in California was $21.7 billion in lost time and fuel in 2000.
    The cost of congestion to the average peak-time driver now exceeds $2,500 annually for Los Angeles-area motorists. It is $1,770 in San Francisco-Oakland; $1,415 in San Jose; $1,250 in San Bernardino-Riverside; $1,015 per driver in San Diego; and $840 in Sacramento. Costs to peak-time drivers in Fresno and Bakersfield doubled between 1990 and 2000.
    "California has been working to provide more adequate funding to better manage its escalating traffic congestion," said Sandman. "Governor Davis's $6.8 billion Traffic Congestion Relief Program was an important step in reversing the under-investment of the past several decades," he said.
    That was strengthened this past March when the state's voters approved, with a 69 percent mandate, Proposition 42, which dedicates the sales tax on gasoline to highway and transit projects. Several California counties are moving ahead with ballot measures to initiate or extend the life of existing local-option sales taxes. These half-cent local sales taxes now raise half the money spent on new congestion-relieving projects in California.
    "Relieving traffic congestion in California requires a long-term commitment at all levels of government," Sandman said. "We must ask our representatives in Congress to make sure California gets its fair share of federal gas tax revenue for improvements to our state transportation systems." Congress is now working to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, which expires next year.
    According to The Road Information Program, traffic congestion has a detrimental effect not only on individual mobility and work commutes, but also on commerce. Trucks, which move about 80 percent of goods in California, use the same highway infrastructure as cars. Freight deliveries in California and other Western states are projected to double by the year 2020.
    Without a substantial new investment in transportation infrastructure, traffic congestion will continue to increase dramatically. California's population is expected to increase by 39 percent in the next 20 years, an even greater growth rate than California saw in the last decade. The adverse impact on travel and movement of goods could be devastating, Sandman warns.

    For more information on TTI findings in California cities: www.transportationca.com.

    For more information on national TTI findings: www.tripnet.org.

    Note to Editors: This story follows today's release of the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) 2002 Mobility Study.