Monday May 7 12:44 PM ET Study Shows Los Angeles Worst for Commuting
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Los Angeles is again the worst rush-hour traffic in the United States, but new findings released on Monday showed it was also the worst for commuting overall because there were few mass transit options.
San Francisco was second for traffic headaches in the Surface Transportation Policy Project analysis, but ranked 29th in the group's ``Congestion Burden Index'' because mass transit gave almost 500,000 commuters alternatives to driving to work each day.
Detroit, a metropolitan area similar in size to San Francisco, ranked 15th for rush-hour traffic and third in the commuter burden index because fewer than 120,000 people there use means other than their car.
Washington ranked fourth for traffic congestion, but 31st in the burden index because 23 percent of the area's work force chose other means of transportation.
``The misery inflicted by traffic congestion is not the same everywhere,'' said Roy Kienitz, executive director of the transportation policy organization. ``The places where commuters suffer the most are the ones with the fewest transportation choices.''
The transportation project analyzed data on 68 U.S. cities compiled by the Texas Transportation Institute for its assessment of highway congestion, combining the impact of mass transit on commuting for the first time.
Boston and Philadelphia posted two of the best overall burden index scores for major cities, ranking 47th and 58th respectively. The Chicago area was 33rd, Denver was 12th, Miami was 15th, and Dallas was 16th.
Recently released figures showed that transit use has grown by 21 percent over the past five years, while driving has increased by only 11 percent.
``People are searching for alternatives to driving in rush-hour traffic and increasingly they are choosing bikes, buses, subways, and other options,'' Kienitz said.
The study, which used 1999 figures, also found that metro areas which added the most roads over the past 10 years have had little success in easing congestion.
One third of the areas surveyed that added the most road space per person experienced a 6.5 percent increase in rush-hour congestion, compared to a 7.2 percent increase for metro areas that added the least road capacity.
The study found that new roads attract more traffic. ``When a road is widened, more people will also choose to drive on it -- either switching from another route, or taking additional trips,'' the study found.
The study estimated that about half of all traffic jams are caused by crashes and other incidents, not by a lack of road capacity.