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Congestion
Costs Region Billions Each Year
October 18, 2007
By KATE PRAHLAD
Capital News Service ANNAPOLIS
Traffic
congestion in the Baltimore and Washington areas costs Maryland
citizens $3.1 billion annually, according to a new study. The
Texas Transportation Institute report, commissioned by area
business groups, said Tuesday that the cost of congestion in
the state has increased by 1,200 percent since 1982 due to a
rise in traffic volume without corresponding improvement or
construction of roads. Driving in "peak periods" costs Marylanders
more than $800 a year, the report said. "More and more citizens
are sitting in traffic, which is harming the economy and quality
of life," said Johanna Neumann, spokeswoman for Maryland PIRG.
Congestion
also takes its toll on businesses, said Kathy Snyder, president
of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce. She said most businesses
would take an increase in the gas tax if it meant less time
and money spent sitting in traffic. According to the report,
almost 60 million hours a year are spent in traffic in Baltimore,
wasting more than 40 million gallons of fuel. In the Washington
metro area, drivers spend twice as many hours waiting and burn
90 million gallons of fuel. Business groups like the chamber
and the Greater Baltimore Committee have called for an additional
$600 million for the Transportation Trust Fund, but Gov. Martin
O'Malley has pledged only $392 million for the fund if his budget
plan is approved. The report said a $600 million increase would
provide 8,106 new jobs in total and a $944 million increase
in economic activity in the region. "The big question is how
much money within the Transportation Trust Fund is allocated
to transit," Neumann said. "It's a flawed system if it's going
to build new roads. If it's helping to fund new transit projects,
then that's a whole other story." That was echoed by Dru Schmidt-Perkins,
executive director of the anti-sprawl group 1000 Friends of
Maryland, who said people "recognize even after adding lanes
to beltways and miles to highways, traffic is just getting worse."
She said the state should look to long-term congestion relief
and not quick fixes.
A
poll released Wednesday by 1000 Friends of Maryland showed just
how frustrated citizens are with traffic. More respondents --
67 percent -- rated traffic as a serious problem than public
education or taxes, according to the random June telephone poll
of 1,000 registered voters. Seventy-four percent of Marylanders
supported using more money for mass transit, even if it meant
less spending on roads. Coupled with rising gas prices, global
warming and serious budget concerns, people want alternatives
to their commutes, which often end up impacting quality of life,
Schmidt-Perkins said.
Businesses
also recognize the transit problem. Donald Fry, president of
the Greater Baltimore Committee, said the additional $600 million
his group wants for transportation should also be used to help
move forward some transit projects. While some jurisdictions
focus on highways, "we think with the growth in population we're
experiencing, with increased levels of traffic, we need to look
for a comprehensive plan that includes fast, reliable, and easy
to understand transit," Fry said. Schmidt-Perkins said poll
respondents were concerned with the rate of growth in the state,
and strategic plans are needed to counter "willy-nilly building"
of transit systems or roads. "It's about congestion relief,"
she said," but it's also about mobility, air quality, bay benefit.
Building more miles of highway cannot do that."
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