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Thread: California has worst US traffic: study

  1. #1
    Senior Contributor xrough's Avatar
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    California has worst US traffic: study

    California has worst US traffic: study


    NEW YORK - Californians idle in the nation's worst traffic jams on interstates surrounding major metropolitan areas but they are far from alone -- 52 percent of these urban stretches of highways are congested, according to a new study released on Thursday.

    Drivers in four lucky states enjoyed zero congestion: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.

    But one Midwestern state, Minnesota, and two East Coast states nearly matched California's sorry showing.

    Some 83.33 percent of California's urban interstates are overcrowded, followed by Minnesota at 77.78 percent and New Jersey at 73.35 percent, according to the 16th annual survey by The Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonpartisan group.

    Manhattan popularized the term "gridlock" but traffic jams on New York's urban interstates were only mediocre, ranking 37th at 53.39 percent, according to the libertarian-idea promoting group that compared volume-to-capacity ratios.

    Drivers in some states whose booming economies are magnets for new residents spent much more time car-sitting without moving than New Yorkers. Florida ranked 40th at 59.44 percent. And Texas, whose $50 billion road privatization dwarfs all of its peers, was 41st at 59.67 percent, the study said.

    And for the eighth year in a row, New Jersey had the nation's worst overall road system, according to the group.

    "Gridlock isn't going away," said David Hartgen, the lead author and a professor at the University of North Carolina.

    To reverse this trend, the 50 states -- which spent almost $99 billion on roads in 2005 -- must prioritize their dollars on traffic-busting projects, added the Charlotte-based expert.

    That might be a bit of a challenge for New Jersey, whose Democratic Gov. John Corzine might partly privatize its toll roads. New Jersey's administrative costs were the nation's highest at $68,352 per state-controlled mile, the study said.

    Massachusetts was 49th at $60,807; next was California, whose overhead ate up $50,614. New York ranked 43rd -- but its $18,687 tab was less than one-third of neighboring New Jersey.

    Florida ranked 42nd at $16,109; Texas was much leaner, spending just $3,147 which put it in 9th place.

    North Dakota had the least expensive bureaucrats, spending only $1,786, followed closely by Arkansas, which ranked second at $1,805, and Missouri which was third at $1,989.

    New Jersey's total road budget -- $2.36 million per state-controlled mile -- was also more than double that of the next biggest spender, which was Massachusetts at $893,236.

    Florida was 48th at $570,191, just above New York, which ranked 47th with a budget of $552,807.

    California was 43rd in total spending at $336,954. Texas spent just less than third of that, ranking 26th at $106,221.

    South Carolina spent the least -- $31,262. West Virginia was second at $41,839; next came North Carolina at $44,654.

    Though states got 13 percent more federal transportation aid in 2005 than in 2004, they may have focused on potholes.

    "They put the money right to work on the road surface," Hartgen said by telephone, noting the "pavement condition" of urban and rural roads improved. But fatalities rose a bit and little headway was made in speeding urban interstate trips.

    "They put a lot more money into the system but haven't really turned the corner on congestion," Hartgen said.

    Though often driver-maddening, traffic jams can actually cut deaths by slowing speeds. "Most of the states with very low accident rates also have very high congestion," said Hartgen.

    Massachusetts did best on the death scale, with only 0.797 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles. Connecticut came second at 0.865, followed by Vermont at 0.946.

    New Jersey was 5th with 1.013, followed by New York at 1.039. California took 19th place with 1.315 fatalities.

    Montana was the deadliest, with 2.256 fatalities. South Dakota was 49th at 2.215; South Carolina was 48th at 2.211.

  2. #2
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    Poor california , if i hate something its a traffic jam , you just lose your mind , especialy if its summer and hot..

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    WAB Cautioner of Poo Senior Contributor Debbie's Avatar
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    I'm not sure why they did a study - I knew that California was bad back in the '80's and Minnesota not being far behind - no kidding. The freeway system is woefully inadequate, not enough lanes to handle way too many cars. However, one thing that is nice about the area of SanFrancisco anyway is that the public transport system is fantastic. There is some light rail in metro Minnesota, but the 13 country metro much less the 7 county metro is lacking and unless one wants to go from Minneapolis to the Mall of America or some other stops in Minneapolis - forget it.

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    An t-aimiréal chléthúil Senior Contributor crooks's Avatar
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    More public transport is what you guys need!

    Bus, Rail, Metro, it's all important, think of the TGV in France or even here we have Iárnróid Eireann, covering the country in a large train network, and you cities need light-rail systems like Dublin's Luas:

    http://www.garda.ie/angarda/atwork/luas.jpg

    With good PT, the general number of cars should go down.
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    Same here ... we have the road, electricity, and water systems of the rural Long Island of the 1940s, 50s and 60s yet were are in 2007 when the 2 counties combined population is close to 3 million people. The vast majority of our highways are the same 2 or 4 lane country roads they were in the 1950s.

    In 1940 the population of Suffolk County, NY was about 198,000 spread across 900 square miles, today its about 1,500,000 and growing everyday.

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    Hello

    Hello there! I'm Coach Fred, a new member of this community,and I'm looking forward to meet some member, too. I think traffic jams grow worse everyday because many people own their own cars and the number of commuters is going down. So roads are so busy because of these uncontrolled number of vehicles using the road.Colorado: Sports Fan Treasures

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    We've got to get away from using surface roads; we've got to start using that third dimension.

    Here's a start:

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    Official Thread Jacker Senior Contributor gunnut's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by crooks View Post
    More public transport is what you guys need!

    Bus, Rail, Metro, it's all important, think of the TGV in France or even here we have Iárnróid Eireann, covering the country in a large train network, and you cities need light-rail systems like Dublin's Luas:

    http://www.garda.ie/angarda/atwork/luas.jpg

    With good PT, the general number of cars should go down.
    You have no idea how spread out the Los Angeles/Orange County area is. Mass transit is most efficient in densely populated areas, the smaller the better. I was very impressed with Hong Kong's mass transit. You can take it to anywhere in the city and it literally dumps you to within a quarter mile of your destination.

    Here, we have parking lots that's longer than 1/4 mile.

    I am unemployed right now. I am looking for a job that's really close to me, around 10 to 20 miles. There are no offices that employ a specialist like my within 5 miles of my house, if not more. This is true to just about every single professional in this area. Things are very spread out.

    We like our space. We like our yards and garages. We can deal with some traffic.

    There are people who switch from a small house to a bigger one farther away from their work just because they want more space. Driving 50 miles one way to work is an acceptable price.
    Last edited by gunnut; 30 Jun 07, at 02:28.
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    Defense Professional RustyBattleship's Avatar
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    Befpre Mac (the knife) Namara closed the Brooklyn Navy Yard in the 60's, California traffic wasn't all that bad. For example; To prevent gridlock at the gate going out of Long Beach Naval Shipyard at quitting time, merging drivers would "Take One" (space in line) and "Leave One" (space in line for the next car). Sort of like playing leap frog.

    Then the New Yorkers moved out here. There went driver courtesy right down the sewer pipe. They would push their way in, honk their horns, cuss at you, flip you, etc. They just had to get home in time for Soupy Sales or something like that.

    In defense, formerly courteous California drivers had to "give back in own kind". But we've improved on it and added 9mm, .38 Special and Colt .45 to the "flipping" part.
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    OAF-Old Aggravating Fart Senior Contributor Shamus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by crooks View Post
    More public transport is what you guys need!

    Bus, Rail, Metro, it's all important, think of the TGV in France or even here we have Iárnróid Eireann, covering the country in a large train network, and you cities need light-rail systems like Dublin's Luas:

    http://www.garda.ie/angarda/atwork/luas.jpg

    With good PT, the general number of cars should go down.
    Well,we do have public transport here in Detroit.We have the People Mugger...I mean People Mover...a sort of mini,elevated monorail system that just runs around our downtown area.Oh,and a bus system where the drivers recently staged a sick out because they couldn't get the city council to approve the use of Wayne county Sheriff's Deputies to protect them and their passengers.Aye,come back to Detroit on vacation,we missed ya the first time,give us another shot.
    "Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories." Thomas Jefferson

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