Bringing Texas Traffic Issues To A Screeching Halt

By Logan Carter | @CorridorNews

In the last 40 years, the population of Texas has more than doubled. Although the number of registered vehicles has almost tripled, the supply of roadway space the state has to accommodate such heavy travel demand has hardly grown at all. The price Texans pay comes in the form of lost time and wasted fuel. These costs rise each year for those living in large urban areas, which lose around $1,000 annually, because of the roughly 40 hours they spend stuck in traffic each year. Traffic congestion takes time and money away from the state each year: 472 million hours of added travel time, $10.1 billion in delay and wasted fuel costs, and $2.1 billion in added truck freight moving costs.

Daily commutes have become longer, more costly, and less reliable. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute, in its 2012 Urban Mobility Report, explained the dramatic increase in time those commutes took through its planning time index (PTI). The index measures how much extra time should be allowed to ensure on-time arrival for higher-priority events, such as an airline departure or medical appointment. For instance, for a PTI of 3.0, a traveler should allow for 60 minutes for a trip normally requiring 20 minutes. Drivers in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso and Houston all have PTIs greater than 3.0.

The supply-and-demand equation comes in to play when looking at the financial side of the transportation issues in Texas. The state now levies a per-gallon fuel tax of 20 cents. This tax and the money collected from vehicle registration fees are the main sources of revenue for the State Highway Fund, which is used to pay for state-maintained highway construction and repairs. The state gas tax has not been raised since 1991 and thanks to inflation, has cut the tax’s purchasing power by about half. Another factor that is eroding the value of the gas tax is fuel-efficient vehicles. As vehicles get better mileage, drivers buy less gas, so that 20-cent gas tax is assessed on increasingly fewer gallons of fuel. Demand for a better transportation system is rising, with the supply of funding for that system is falling.

To make up for the lack of funding, the state has turned to debt financing. Texas voters approved an amendment in 2003 allowing the state to borrow money for building highways, with the bonds to be guaranteed by future gas tax revenue. Not only is the State Highway Fund responsible for road construction and maintenance but also debt services. The total debt the state holds for highway construction is currently at $17 billion.

Recent TTI research shows that Texans believe a quality transportation system is important to the state. However, they have little knowledge of how transportation funded, and are frustrated that the fuel tax has not kept up with inflation. Texans think that the current system is wasteful with their tax dollars, and are concerned with use of debt financing to build new highways. TTI’s findings suggest that once Texans are given an explanation, they begin to recognize and understand the severity of the problem. Without an explanation, matters pertaining to education, immigration and other issues tend to trump the transportation issue.

The State’s economy is a popular topic of discussion as well, but the economy and the transportation system are dependent on one another. Texans rely on the state’s transportation system to get to their jobs, in turn so they can spend their money on what they please and invest back into the state’s economy. When making a list of the state’s priorities, it’s hard to imagine ranking the economy near the top without putting transportation right up there with it.

Forty percent of all the new jobs created after the 2008 recession came out of Texas. Texas fell into the recession later than most states, and recovered sooner than most as well. The state’s economy is larger than those of South Korea and Mexico, and it rivals those of Spain and Australia. Thanks to a multi-versed economy, Texas boasts a very steady and impressive marketplace.

Although the economy is moving forward, the gridlock in the state’s major urban areas is worsening each year. Congestion, normally a problem in the most populous places, is no longer exclusively a big-city problem. Traffic delays in Dallas and Houston can drive shopping costs up, raising the prices paid for goods in small  towns. Rural areas are experience the spill over from the state’s transportation issues. The State’s booming energy business has taken a toll on many narrow farm roads built to accommodate pickup trucks, not the massive equipment vehicles used by the oil and gas industry.

Meeting this challenge will require solutions on both sides of the supply-and-demand equation. On the supply side, Texas took a significant step in 2011 when the State Legislature directed TTI to serve as a coordinator for state and local agencies in helping implement construction projects for the higher congested Texas corridors. The Mobility Investment Priorities student identified those needs and helped to determine how to get the biggest return on the investments legislators had appropriated. This is a step in the right direction, but the problem cannot be fixed by only new construction.

Another essential piece to the puzzle is the concept of travel demand management. How can the state get the most efficient possible use out of the current transportation system? There are a few possibilities in the forms of transit, ride-share programs, bicycle and pedestrian options, park-and-ride programs and work pattern changes. Many of these initiatives have already made a positive difference.

Systems in several cities feature high-occupancy vehicle, high-occupancy toll lanes, manage lanes and toll roads. The emergence of casual carpooling in Houston has saved time and cut costs. Passengers meet at locations close to HOV facilities, and drivers pick up enough passengers to meet requirements and avoid a toll.

Another program, Carma, was introduced in Austin in 2013.  Carma is a real-time ride-sharing option where interested commuters download the app, find nearby matches and reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles on the roads. In El Paso, iCarpool software supports ride-sharing actions by helping participants identify route information, pick-up and drop-off locations and time preferences, and also by offering an emergency ride home provision. Carpooling is not a new concept, but apps like Carma and iCarpool show how modern technology can help facilitate new solutions.

Texans can also look to other states for possible solutions here. One example is telework, which refers to arrangements that allow employees to work from home. State employees participating in the Telework Arizona program avoided about 5.2 million miles of vehicle travel and 180,00 hours of commute time in one year alone. In Georgia, state employees who participate in the Work Away program once a week can eliminate 416,000 trips and 5.4 million miles of vehicle travel annually. In addition to cutting travel time and mileage, programs like these can boost morale for employees who appreciate flexibility. Employers also benefit from a significant recruiting and retention strategy to attract and keep talented and hardworking individuals.

In order for these types of strategies to be successful, involvement from businesses and the government is required. Since the early 20th century, Texans have relied on the public sector to meet their transportation needs. State and local agencies were responsible for building, maintaining and operating our highway system. This model worked well for that time, but modern challenges must be met with more modern approaches. For travel demand management to be effective, both the public and private sectors have to accept it.

Texas can always decide to do nothing, but like all the other options, it comes with a price. Doing nothing means Texans will spend more time sitting in traffic, leading them to spend more money on wasted fuel and raising the prices on goods delivered by trucks. Another issue is the prospect of slower emergency response times.

In the past, Texans have enjoyed a long-standing tradition of quality roads. However, with the state’s population steadily increasing, that tradition may be coming to an end. The state demographer projects the state’s population to be 28.9 million in 2020, up from 25.2 million in 2010. By 2030, Texas will add four million more people. With more people come the need for more places to live, and a more advanced transportation system to get those people to their jobs. With travel demand, outgrowing available roadway supply, future prosperity and the quality life for Texans will be threatened.

It is clear that there is no single solution to the complex problem that is this state’s transportation system. Carpooling and telework are promising initiatives, but are possible for everyone. No all commuters have access to public transit. New construction is a start, but cannot be the only way to ease major cities of congestion. The right approach will involve a variety of the state’s available tools. Statewide effort is required, if Texans want the best hope of fixing our states transportation problem and making the State of Texas better for all.

You can reach Logan Carter at News@SMCorridorNews.com

Souces; TxDot, Tierra Grande, Texas State University, and The Texas A&M Transportation Institute