Greening Austin Daily

New Report Finds that Austin has 3rd Worst Traffic in U.S.

21st January, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

The Statesman had this article today,  which states that according to a new study, Austin has the third worst traffic in the U.S.:

That would mean Austin’s traffic is worse than in not only Dallas and Houston, but also New York and Chicago. Only Los Angeles and Washington have worse traffic than Austin, according to the Urban Mobility Report released Thursday.

That is a notable departure from the last such report, put out in July 2009, by the Texas A&M University-based research institute, which said Austin’s 2007 “travel time index” — the percentage increase for a trip at rush hour compared with an identical trip in the middle of the night — ranked 20th in the country.

The article goes on to describes the methods used by the reporters, and also says:

Politically, the No. 3 ranking counts as something of a mixed blessing. For years in the mobility report, Austin’s congestion was the worst among a list of medium-sized cities. (Austin is no longer considered mediumsized in the report.) Officials pushing for various transportation initiatives — such as toll roads, commuter rail and higher gas taxes — pointed to that dubious honor to support spending for their agendas.

This ranking could serve as an even more dramatic rhetorical tool. Urban rail advocates and supporters of more highways have already seized on the report as justification for more rail or roads to alleviate congestion.

For others, the traffic itself is what matters, not the ranking.

The article also notes that “several of the report’s other rankings, which take into account the actual distance people commute, tend to put Austin and its suburbs somewhat farther down the list.”