Big Shock: Traffic Congestion a Problem

Harris Interactive just released results of a poll that says 37% of drivers think traffic congestion is a serious problem. That’s compared to 21% who think congestion isn’t a problem at all.

The poll was conducted evenly throughout the U.S., with 56% of those on the West Coast checking the “serious problem” box. Only 26% of those in the Midwest — probably all here in Chicago — felt it was a problem.

Is a congestion tax the answer? London recently enacted such a tax for driving in congested areas of the city, but 66% of those polled opposed such a tax. Perhaps new and improved roadways would be a better solution. 

Source: Harris Interactive

Comments

I obvious don't have any good solutions ... But how's about all those SUV's and minivans with a single person -- the driver -- occupying the vehicle for most of their road-going hours??? Instead of HOV lanes to encourage better occupancy (and IMHO having 2 passengers in the average 5-seat car HARDLY should qualify as high occupancy!?!).

You know ive always wondered who was behind those retarded surveys. Now I know. Thanks Harris Interactive for stating the obvious. Its like doing a survey on what people think has more water, the ocean or the desert. The better question is how much Harris was paid to do the survey. Cause that company is laughing all the way to the bank. At the end of the day, if you live in a highly developed area with a large population there will be traffic problems. I do agree with D. Lu, there are way too many suv's out there that could double as a sherman tank with one occupant. Maybe a gas guzzling tax is not enough. Sure we as Americans love our bigger, better, cheaper mentality but we need to start working logic and reason in there when it comes to what we drive. Im not saying we should all drive hybrids or buzz around in micro cars, but perhaps a bit of moderation would be a good idea. It would sure do wonders for our pocketbooks and our patience.

For big cities like Chicago, I think a large, regional gas tax is the answer. Say, $2 a gallon. A gas tax doesn't stop anybody from buying the car they want or driving it, but they will have to at least think about it. The money from the tax could be used for road upkeep -- something to directly benefit those taxed.

But I'd only want to see a gas tax applied in a city such as Chicago that provides both a viable public transportation option and a great number of bike lanes. In smaller towns where there are no such alternatives, there probably is less congestion and, therefore, less need of a gas tax. Also, tax credits for low income people commuting to work would be needed.

A congestion tax would probably only lessen the traffic jams in the city center.

Bill J,
The city of Chicago does indeed have higher gas taxes than the areas surrounding it.
thank goodness its not $2, and I don't think a cent of it goes to road repairs. Horrible streets in Chicago, just horrible.

I'm not a big fan of SUVs, but I think this is an area where they get unfairly maligned. The Accord, Camry and Fusion are each about 190" long. The Ford Explorer is 193.4" and the Chevy Tahoe is 202". If you assume an average following distance of 200" those SUVs are taking up an extra 0.769% and 2.56% of space respectively. Even the mighty Suburban at 222.4" overall length only consumes an extra 8.31% of the average car space. Of course when traffic comes to a halt the distance between vehicles decreases dramatically and the difference in length becomes more noticeable.

Whatever size car you drive carpooling is a very effective way to fix the problem; as is public transportation. I never do either one.

On Wednesday the 21st February, Prime Minister Blair challenged critics to come up with a better solution to the growing problem of traffic congestion.
I accept that challenge.
Furthermore we can achieve this without tolls.
He has been informed of this today by e-mail on his Downing Street website.
We can change any cities traffic infrastructure to give Liquid Flow Traffic.
If the road infrastructure cannot achieve free and uninterrupted vehicle flows no technology will help!
The solution to traffic jams is not the size of the road but the ability of an intersection to work correctly.
Traffic lights just stop traffic, roundabouts are for light traffic and freeway intersections are fundamentally flawed. They have been like this for over 80 years as ,supposedly worlds best practice.
Problem is it just doesn’t work.
If it worked why do we get jams and gridlock?
Because the present system is designed to slow you down.
At www.ubtsc.com.au we have models of intersections that work at 100 percent efficiency.
They allow all vehicles entering an intersection to exit that intersection left, right or ahead without stopping all day every day without fail.
Yes even during the worst peak period you can imagine.
We also have a number of other transportation solutions that are environmentally zero polluting.
None of this is worth anything if government at all levels dismisses it!
Think outside the square for solutions and look for the positives of what this means.
I did.
Imagine being able to cross town in peak hour traffic without stopping at a single intersection.
Jozef Goj, CEO, UBTSC Pty Ltd

A radical solution might be REMOVING some traffic lights and stop signs, or making them irrelevent in off-peek hours. I'm sure this will never fly with the elected officials, after all who wants to run for office saying he REMOVED stop signs from a residential roads?

But I have two routes to commute to work, one goes THROUGH the city, it's 4.5 miles has stops signs on almost every corner and 18 trafffic signals. It takes 20 minutes, and I average 15mpg. The other route is TWICE AS LONG, has 1 traffic light, and 4 stop signs, takes half the time and improves my MPG by over 25%!

Talking of improved fuel economy is useless if every car in the country is accelerating from a dead stop every 400 yards!

Hm, bein able to not stop at intersections may make traffic worse, since people waitin to turn into the flow of traffic will have to wait longer to turn and not to mention the increased wrecks. Nothing anybody can do will completely stop congestion, yes it will help, but not stop it. Even usin flyin cars will cause congestion of sky-ways. So, either way traffic congestion is here to stay, the only true way to be rid of it is to get rid of all vehicles, which will never happen.