California’s improved economy has brought commutes to an unprecedented slowdown from one end of the state to the other, making drivers here the most stressed out in the nation.
A nationwide report released late Tuesday found that motorists in California’s congested population centers spend nearly two work weeks a year stuck in creep-and-crawl traffic — nearly double the national average.
According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and a West Coast traffic organization called Inrix, which surveyed traffic on 471 urban streets and highways across the country, an estimated $160 billion is lost annually in wasted fuel, lost income and lost time across the country while motorists cling to a steering wheel instead of a computer mouse.
The worst area is Washington, D.C., at 82 hours of lost time, but the top 10 is a roadmap from Northern California to Southern California: Los Angeles comes in No. 2 with 80 hours of delays, followed by San Francisco-Oakland with 78, New York at 74 and the San Jose area at 67. Riverside rounds out the top 10 at 59. Compare that to the national average of a measly 42 hours.
The California numbers have jumped five hours since 2010 and are expected to steadily creep higher over the next several years.
“That’s a pretty dramatic increase,” Texas A&M researcher Tim Lomax said. “We haven’t seen that in many other places but we are seeing it in Oakland, San Francisco as well as San Jose. And it’s likely going to get worse.”
Using all the delay data, researchers created what they labeled the “freeway stress index” — and California drivers are the most miserable. San Francisco-Oakland drivers are the most stressed, with Los Angeles second and the South Bay seventh.
There’s also a dollar impact. Los Angeles motorists lost $1,711 per person a year for sluggish 15-mph commutes; San Francisco and Oakland $1,675, and $1,422 in Silicon Valley. By the year 2020, that $160 billion annual nationwide impact will rise to $192 billion, the report says.
The congestion problem has become so bad in major urban areas that drivers have to plan more than twice as much travel time as they would normally need in light traffic just to account for the effects of collisions, construction zones and bad weather.
Making the Walnut Creek to Sunnyvale trek? Maybe an hour on a Sunday, but better bank on an extra 30 minutes on a Tuesday morning.
“That’s what I find so irritating,” said Dina Perez of Oakland, a Bay Bridge commuter. “One day it may take 45 minutes. The next trip two hours. How do you plan your life?”
In the South Bay, weekday commutes are beginning as early as 5:30 a.m. and lasting well past 7:30 in the evening. Metering lights on Highway 85 sometimes stay on until 11 a.m.
A number of solutions are in the works to ease some of the gridlock and encourage solo commuters to carpool or take public transit to work: Later this year BART will open a new line to the Santa Clara County border, a “Smart Highway” project on Interstate 80 from Richmond to the Bay Bridge will offer route alternatives, and the Interstate 880 carpool lane will be extended south of Oakland. Double carpool lanes are planned for Highways 85 and 101, and Interstate 580 in the Tri-Valley will get those plus express lanes.
Looking ahead, counties throughout the Bay Area will place sales-tax measures on the 2016 ballot for road and transit projects. On the state level, a huge transportation bill is being considered to hike the state gas tax by 12 cents, the vehicle license fee or car tax by 50 percent and registration fees by 80 percent.
But, transportation experts say, state and local agencies can’t do it alone. “Our growing traffic problem is too massive for any one entity to handle,” said Lomax, who suggested a three-pronged approach.
“Businesses,” he said, “can give their employees more flexibility in where, when and how they work; individual workers can adjust their commuting patterns; and we can have better thinking when it comes to long-term land-use planning.
“This problem calls for a classic all-hands-on-deck approach.”
Join Gary Richards for an hourlong chat noon Wednesday at www.mercurynews.com/live-chats. Follow Gary at Twitter.com/mrroadshow, look for him at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at mrroadshow@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5335.
