Traffic Trends Report Released

Bostonians are wasting less time in traffic, according to the latest report from the Texas Transportation Institute.

In its annual urban mobility report, TTU cites data from 2007 that shows peak travelers are spending 43 hours annually in road and highway congestion, down one hour from 2006. Still, that’s three hours more than drivers were spending in 2002, a surprising trend considering that the Big Dig was still ongoing at the time. The one-hour gain from 2006 to 2007 is consistent with what researchers found on a national level as well.

Other highlights from the research showed that:

• The overall cost (based on wasted fuel and lost productivity) was approximately $945 per Boston area traveler.
• The total amount of wasted fuel was around 29 gallons per area traveler.
• On a national level, the amount of wasted time totaled 4.2 billion hours – nearly one full work week for every traveler.

Even though some numbers have leveled off, TTU doesn’t expect to see that as a trend, or a greater use of public transportation. Rather, the institute cites the economy as impacting some of the numbers, and expects to see the traffic problems rebound when the economy does.

The full report for the Boston area can be found here.

Photo © Texas Transportation Institute