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Traffic: We're No. 1
Nutmeg State the pits for driving, UConn study shows
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Business New Haven
1/10/2000
By: BNH
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It's official: Connecticut has the worst traffic congestion in the nation.
So said the Wall Street Journal on December 28. Ditto for The Connecticut Economy, the University of Connecticut's quarterly review.
How do we count the ways? Four of the state's urban areas - Stamford (No. 12), Norwalk (17), Bridgeport-Milford (21) and Hartford-Middletown (43) rank among the fifty busiest traffic corridors, with two others (New Haven-Meriden at 54, and Waterbury at 55) in the top 55 of the 308 American urban areas with interstate mileage, based on daily vehicle-miles per mile of interstate highway.
The UConn journal notes that, while Internet access and growing "connectivity" were supposed to have trimmed the need for face-to-face contact, drivers are logging more miles than ever on Connecticut roads - more than 29 billion vehicle miles in 1998. That's about 80 million vehicle-miles each day, about one-third of which are traveled on interstates.
The annual growth rate from 1988 to '98 of 1.2 percent doesn't seem terribly alarming until one considers that the state actually lost population during that period.
So, why the increase? Two answers: growth in auto registrations of 86,000 over the ten-year period, plus the addition of some 850 miles of new roads.
The potential for even more congestion is great. Connecticut's 160 residents per mile of road in 1998 was more than double the U.S. average of 68. And, due in part to its high per-capita income, the state's 130 registered vehicles per road mile was two and a half times the national average of 52.
Not surprising is the heavy load on interstates in southwestern Connecticut, with congestion in Stamford, Norwalk and Bridgeport-Milford leading the way. But Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury are not far behind. And the state's Department of Transportation estimates that average daily vehicle miles are expected to increase from 80 million currently to 110 million by 2025.
What's the answer - more road capacity, or transportation alternatives to take people out of their cars? The UConn researchers don't say, although they do note the experience of Los Angeles and other communities that have tried to "build their way out" of congestion problems and in the end only made it worse.
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