2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard Tim Lomax Texas A&M Transportation Institute Austin Chamber of Commerce December 2015

National Urban “Rush Hours” Wasted Fuel 3.1 Billion Gallons in Total Delay = 6.9 Billion Hours Uncongested 18% Light 22% Extreme 14% Severe 12% Heavy 14% Moderate 20% Where Is The Travel? For the Average Auto Commuter: 42 Hours 19 Gallons $960

National Urban “Rush Hours” Wasted Fuel 3.1 Billion Gallons in Total Delay = 6.9 Billion Hours Light 2% Extreme 63% Severe 17% Heavy 11% Moderate 7% Where Is The Delay? For the Average Auto Commuter: 42 Hours 19 Gallons $960

Congestion is Getting Worse in Cities of All Sizes Delay per Auto Commuter Very Large = 3 M + Large = 1 M - 3 M Medium = 500 K - 1 M Small = Below 500 K

Congestion Patterns A Different Look At The Problem Delay by Day of Week Delay by Weekday Time of Day

Texas Areas with the Greatest Congestion “Tax” Hours & cost for a peak period auto commuter (Natl Rank) Houston (8)61 hours$1,490 Dallas-Ft Worth(11)53 hours$1,185 Austin (12)52 hours$1,160 San Antonio(33)44 hours$1,000 El Paso (81)33 hours$ 760

Other Austin “Highlights” This isnt a ‘#1 is good’ poll Population 1,500,000 (34) Total cost – delay time and fuel$1.1 billion (31) Fuel wasted 22 gallons per auto commuter (23) Commuter stress index (peak direction) 1.44 (7) Travel time unreliability - plan for 52 minutes for a 20-minute uncongested trip (25)

With congestion Without congestion Business Cost of Congestion Distance traveled to connect with customers in 30 minutes Missed opportunity

Without congestion Business Cost of Congestion Commuting distance for employees in 1 hour Missed opportunity With congestion

Congestion Patterns Different in Smaller Regions Over 1 millionUnder 1 million Off Peak Streets 29% Off Peak Freeways 10% Peak Freeways 29% Peak Streets 32% Off Peak Streets 41% Peak Freeways 10% Off Peak Freeways 6% Peak Streets 43%

The Most Congested Roads in Austin from the Texas list of 100 most congested road sections

100 Most Congested – Austin Speed How do you get to be #1? Slow speeds in both directions start around 1 pm.

100 Most Congested - Austin Speed Why is this only #29? Lower volumes, slow speeds in both directions but only a few hours.

100 Most Congested - Austin Speed Northbound Southbound This is #41 Slow speeds in one direction.

100 Most Congested - Austin Speed Only 64 road sections in Texas are more congested.

100 Most Congested - Austin Slow speeds, but also lower volumes.

Congestion Has Many Causes Bottlenecks 40% Traffic Incidents 25% Work Zones 10% Bad Weather 15% Poor Signal Timing 5% Special Events/Other 5%

Less Construction Delay Improve System Efficiency Build More Capacity Commute & Travel Options Diversified Development Patterns …But No Single Solution 100% 0% % Varies for Each City Accept Some Congestion

…And the Solution Mix Will Be Different Within Regions Capacity Efficiency Options Add Capacity Greater Efficiency Travel Options Capacity Efficiency Options Inner Loop Outer Loop

Is “doing nothing” really an option?

What’s the Long-Term Strategy? Aggressively operate what you have Better processes – operations, planning, design & construction Add capacity and service strategically Tell the public! – Performance reports & targets – Link deployment, events and actions – What can travelers & businesses do? Everyone has a role in reducing congestion mobility.tamu.edu