Gridlock Alert: “Terrible Traffic Tuesday” Is Drawing Nigh And Why It Could Be Less Terrible This Year

(Monday) September 6, 2010

Telecommuting, Carpooling and Riding Public Transportation Contribute To Less Congestion

As millions of Washington metro residents prepare to return to work and school tomorrow, they should also brace themselves for that dreadful day of reckoning known to local commuters as “Terrible Traffic Tuesday.” It’s the colorful turn of phrase coined by AAA Mid-Atlantic to describe that especially grueling day after Labor Day when drivers and commuters take area roads, rails and bus routes into the teeth of the second-worst gridlock in America. Fortunately, area commuters have access to an array of options to lessen the impact of the world-class gridlock in the capital of the free world, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic and Commuter Connections.

The Greater Washington area is now home to 5.6 million people and it boasts a work force of three million and counting, estimates the U. S. Census Bureau. Half of them drive to work alone. Come “Terrible Traffic Tuesday,” that’s a recipe for absolute gridlock. No wonder one out of four commuters – 25 percent – now thinks his or her current commute is worse than a year ago.

“When the alarm clock sounds at the crack of dawn Tuesday morning, area commuters will once again face a mind-numbing, soul-robbing surge in gridlock for the first time in months,” said John B. Townsend, II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “Many of them will drive alone in bumper-to-bumper traffic, along with thousands of school buses transporting nearly a million students, including the pupils heading to school houses on the Virginia side of the Potomac for the first time this academic year.”

In light of this, local transportation experts are sounding the season’s first “gridlock alert.” Although commuters are aware of the approaching doom, they are not helpless to avoid it, transportation experts counsel. As an alternative to the expected increase in gridlock, area workers returning to their work stations should take advantage of Commuter Connections, the one-stop commute planning shop that’s increasing in popularity with fed-up Washingtonians.

“We are poised to help guide commuters into trying and using great alternatives to driving alone to and from work during this increase in traffic congestion when people are back from vacations and schools are back in session,” said Nicholas W. Ramfos, the Director of Commuter Connections. “Commuters who use alternatives like carpooling, transit and bicycling may find they save money and time and feel less stressed,” Ramfos added.

How bad will it be on “Terrible Traffic Tuesday?” Here is the tale of the tape:

We’re still flying solo. Some 1.5 million commuters will drive to work alone on any given workday.
We will have to endure a seemingly interminable commute, which throws our natural body clocks out of kilter. The average area driver will clock 30 to 35 minutes on their commute, according to this year’s “State of the Commute Report” by Commuter Connections.

Life is hard, and so is the commute. A quarter of commuters said their commute is more difficult than a year ago, the survey says.

There are signs of improvement. Just over 62 percent say the commute is the same and 12 percent say they have an easier commute, the survey shows.

“For the times they are a-changing” and so is the commute pattern on area roads. “More than 47.9 percent of the region’s jobs are located in the inner suburbs of Fairfax, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties and the cities within them,” the Transportation Planning Board (TPB) reports (Economic Trends in Metropolitan Washington, 2003-2008 report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments).

Reaching the peak of the peak. Rush hour riders on Metrorail will face new peak-of-the peak fees during the morning commute. That’s on top of the 20-cent peak-of-the-peak fee during the evening rush hour (Metro averages between 590 thousand and 750 thousand trips a day and currently faces a $189.2 million shortfall in its FY2011 operating budget).

Expect plenty of company on the “busiest part” of Capital Beltway with a quarter of a million - 250,000 – vehicles often traveling at breakneck speed at the Route 132 exit on the Beltway at Greenbelt.

It will be as bad as it gets on I-95 south of the Beltway, which boasts nearly 300,000 trips each work day (Source: Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance).

Anticipate bumper-to-bumper traffic in Northern Virginia, which has the Commonwealth’s most heavily used transportation corridors including I-95/I-395 and I-495 (Capital Beltway) – portions of which carry more than 200,000 – 300,000 vehicles per day (Source: Virginia Department of Transportation).

“The world is too much with us.” Morning, noon, night, and midnight, we suffer from the second worst gridlock in the nation. But the interstate corridor dreaded for having the longest delay during the evening peak hour is that eight-mile-stretch of I-495 Inner Loop from Virginia 7 to the I-270 Spur. In the one-hour period from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. the estimated travel time is 24 minutes. Traffic plods along at snail’s pace at an estimated speed of 20 mph, and even worse, the estimated delay is 16 minutes (Source: Transportation Planning Board).

If time is money we are squandering plenty of both on area roads. Gridlock in the metro area is costing the average rush hour driver $1,207 a year, according to the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI).

Area residents who experience more difficult commutes overwhelmingly tend to blame congestion, according to a recent survey by the Council of Governments. However, only 64 percent of area motorists drive alone – down 7 percent from the 71 percent found in the group’s 2001 survey.

What gives? Well, telecommuting or teleworking – working from home – is on the rise. Twenty-five percent of our area’s workforce telecommutes “at least occasionally”. That’s a 14 percent increase in the number of telecommuters the Washington metro area boasted back in 2001. “In fact, teleworking cuts down on traffic congestion and is appreciated by workers whose companies have adopted the practice,” Ramfos explained. “Those who chose to telework say they have more time for sleep, family and even work. Plus, their attitudes and productivity change.”

The use of mass transit is also increasing. Hundreds of thousands of commuters in our area hop on buses and/or trains to get to work and school. “But with the recent fare increases and number of breakdowns, more and more people could be shying away from some of the area’s mass transit alternatives to congestion,” Townsend explained. “That would be unfortunate, since the use of mass transit cuts down on traffic and reduces the carbon footprint by lessening pollution.”

Motorists driving in from the outer jurisdictions of Maryland and Virginia are likely to depend on the expediency of High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes during their commute, according to the 2010 State of the Commute survey. They say the presence of HOV lanes influenced their decision to use alternative transportation modes – since the lanes provide an average time savings of 20 minutes each way, the survey says.

And, the notion of traveling on High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes for free or at a reduced rate also has 26 percent of commuters who normally drive alone considering a car or vanpool. What is more, the “State of the Commute Report” found that 18% of residents who use alternative modes of transportation do so to save money. Some other reasons for making the switch include:

o       Changed jobs/hour – 15%
o       No vehicle available – 10%
o       Save time – 10%
o       Carpool – 8%
o       No parking – 4%
o       Concerned about environment – 3%

To help you avoid the congestion and frustrations of the Terrible Traffic Tuesday commute, AAA Mid-Atlantic and Commuter Connections offer the following tips:

o       Have children walk, bicycle or take the bus or train to school.
o       Encourage your local elected officials to continue to support a strong public transportation agenda.
o       Talk to your boss about the possibility of telecommuting or working a shorter/more condensed work schedule.
o       Carpool with friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
o       Pledge to rely less on your car on September 22. Go car free or car-lite for Car Free Day. Make a difference for a day by bicycling, walking, teleworking, carpooling, vanpooling or taking transit. To take the pledge go to http://www.carfreemetrodc.com/

Commuter Connections is housed at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and is a program of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. Commuter Connections is funded by the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia Departments of Transportation and the United States Department of Transportation.