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NEW & WIDER HIGHWAYS WORSEN CINCINNATI'S TRAFFIC GRIDLOCK AND SPRAWL:NEW STUDY SAYS NEW HIGHWAYS CAUSE, NOT RELIEVE, UP TO 43% OF TRI-STATE TRAFFIC JAMS
CINCINNATI-Widening and building
new highways actually causes, not
relieves,
traffic congestion in Cincinnati and other major
U.S.
metropolitan areas, according to a new
study presented today to the
79th Annual
Transportation Research Board in Washington, DC.
The
study estimated that up to 43% of traffic
in Greater Cincinnati is
caused just by
expanding the area's road network. The study also
says
that Tri-State traffic congestion would
have grown less rapidly if no
new or wider
highways were built at all, contrary to what
highway
planners have predicted.
The study, "Analysis of
Metropolitan Highway Capacity and the Growth
in Vehicle Miles of Travel," used data from the Texas
Transportation
Institute's most recent
database for 70 urbanized areas from
1982-1996. Using three models with different variables, the
study
found that highway-induced traffic in
the Cincinnati area (including
Northern
Kentucky) increased by 14%-43%. Highway-induced
traffic
estimates for nearby metropolitan
areas were 12%-35% in Columbus;
13%-30% in
Cleveland; 20%-50% in Indianapolis; and 34%-77%
in
Louisville. The national average was
15%-45%.
"Simply put, this study adds to
the growing evidence that traffic
congestion
has been made worse, not alleviated as road builders
claim,
by more and bigger highways. It
follows that to reduce traffic
congestion, and
therefore air pollution and suburban sprawl, we
need
to stop building and widening
sprawl-causing highways," said Glen
Brand,
director of the Cincinnati office of the National Sierra
Club.
"Instead it would be smarter to plan our
communities better so that we
aren't forced to
drive everywhere, and to provide greater
transportation choices such as commuter light rail and expanded
bus
service."
The study's authors, Robert
Noland, University of London Center for
Transport Studies and William A. Cowart, ICF Consulting in
Fairfax,
VA., conclude that "induced travel
effects strongly imply that pursuit
of
congestion reduction by building more capacity will
have
short-lived benefits. This may be
evidence for a strong sprawl
inducing impact
of large increases in lane mile capacity relative
to
the existing infrastructure. Recognition of
these impacts implies that
the benefits of new
highway construction are less than would be
calculated from a static analysis that included no induced
travel
impacts."
Currently, highway expansion is
occurring all over the Tri-State,
including
widening of I-71 and I-75, the new Butler County
Regional
Highway, and a proposed Eastgate
highway in Clermont County.
"In the light of this new
research, policy-makers, including County
commissioners and engineers, Ohio Department of Transportation,
and
Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Council of Regional
Governments, need to
re-calculate the benefits
and costs of highway expansion, said Sierra
Club's Brand. "We are calling for a balanced transportation
program
that spends as much on travel choices
such as clean buses and light
rail trains as
on building new sprawl-and-congestion-causing
highways."
Haynes Goddard, Professor of
Economics at the University of Cincinnati
with
expertise in transportation economics, said that "this study is
a
careful statistical analysis of the perverse
effects of insufficiently
considered highway
investments, and how they can make our region
a
less desirable place to live. It makes it
clear that putting all of
our proverbial
transport eggs in the highway basket reduces
the
economic vitality of our
region".
One study in Oregon showed that
by planning development so that people
have
easy access to commuter trains and other public
transportation
choice, traffic for new
development can be reduced from 10 car trips
per day to 6 trips per day.
"If people are tired of being
stuck in sprawl mall traffic, we need to
promote smarter planning and increase travel choices, not just
build
more highways," said Brett Hulsey,
coordinator of the Sierra Club
Challenge to
Sprawl Campaign. "More roads lead to more traffic
like
bigger pants tend to lead to more weight
gain. We need to change our
philosophy
to reduce, not increase sprawl and traffic."
The Sierra Club is calling on
state and local leaders to spend at
least half
of their transportation money on safety improvements
to
existing streets and roads, and for public
transportation
alternatives, and promote
traffic impact analysis on new sprawl
development, and good planning measures to minimize traffic.
More information on induced
traffic and sprawl can be obtained from
the
Sierra Club web site at www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/resources/links.