Anyone who has ever commuted from the Baltimore area to DC, or vice versa, doesn’t need to be reminded how bad area traffic is.
Take a quick look at some of this area’s dubious distinctions when it comes to transportation. According to the Urban Mobility Scorecard, Washington, DC ranks as the most congested metropolitan area in the country for yearly delay per auto commuter. The Baltimore metropolitan area, meanwhile, was ranked among the nation’s 25 most congested areas.
On the average, an automobile commuter in the Washington, DC metropolitan area spent 63 hours per year in traffic, incurring more than $1,400 in additional annual expenses including the cost of 35 gallons in excess fuel. By itself, this statistic translates to 4.5 billion of annual costs due to congestion, and more than 100 million gallons of excess fuel and associated emissions resulting in air quality degradation.
In the Baltimore region, the annual cost due to congestion is only slightly lower, at an estimated $2 billion annually. And according to the 2016 US Census American Community Survey, the entire State of Maryland ranks first nationally in terms of longest commuting times (32½ minutes each way). Washington, DC, which includes many of the Maryland commuters, ranks fourth nationally with average commuting times of nearly 30 minutes each way.
These statistics are even more overwhelming when growth projections for the area are considered. By the year 2040, the population of the Baltimore/Washington region is expected to increase from 8.1 million to 9.7 million people – an increase of approximately 20% over the year 2015 estimates. Population in the Metropolitan Washington region is expected to grow by approximately 24% between 2015 and 2040, while the Baltimore region is predicted to see approximately 10% growth over the same 25 year span.
Undoubtedly, this population growth will translate into a corresponding rise in employment workforce. Jobs in the Baltimore/Washington region are expected to jump by approximately 25% during this period, increasing from 4.7 million to 5.9 million. An increase in 1.2 million jobs will result in the likelihood of over 800,000 more vehicles using the current transportation system, according to projections by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, and the Round 8A Forecast and Round 9.0 Cooperative Forecast. And let’s face it: current growth in vehicle miles travelled in the area alone is currently surpassing the ability of state agencies to improve or expand the roadway network.
Even though these statistics are daunting, neither the DC or Baltimore region has sufficient residential or business density to justify increased rail transit at a cost of $150 to $200 million per mile. But while traffic congestion is not going to get better all by itself, there are a number of things that can be done to reduce traffic delays and traffic congestion.
- Provide dedicated transit from where people live to where people work, not just in limited corridors
- Encourage ridesharing
- Change mode share in a very dramatic way
- Encourage employees to live within walking distance to where they work
- Telework at least one day per week
- Utilize small mobility devices, such as scooters and ebikes
None of these things by themselves will fix or substantially reduce existing traffic congestion, but they will help.
Projects such as the Maglev project, the Governor’s P3 Managed Lane project, and bus rapid transit (BRT) systems in dedicated lanes can all help to improve travel time in heavy transportation corridors.
Bottom line: commuters will still want or need to go from Baltimore to Washington, or from one side of the Beltway to the other side of the Beltway, or from bedroom communities to high employment corridors. Therefore, it is important to recognize that no single improvement will eliminate congestion and reduce delay. Do not think for one minute that TRANSIT ALONE, for example, is the solution. Implemented together, a series of actions can have a major impact on the region’s current traffic situation and will vastly improve prospects for the future.