Where Does Traffic Come From and How Does It Get So Bad?

traffic it is the bane of our daily routine and one of the things most complain about in cities around the world including the towns i live and work in quite frankly i don't blame anyone who would want to sit through this anyway it's terrible traffic is a complex beast and the location and severity of traffic depends on many factors in this video i want to share some planning theories about the origins of traffic and how it gets so bad now i want to introduce you to karina hello there she is very frustrated by all the traffic congestion in the town that she lives in in fact she is so frustrated she went to the city council meeting to express her feelings you need to do something to fix all this traffic you need to widen the roads and stop allowing all that high density housing let's pause for a minute karina's at the city council meeting demanding that something be done about traffic and all the cars on the road while on the other hand she drives her suburban to work to drop her kids off at school to go to the grocery store even to go get a 44 ounce dirty dr pepper at the soda shop drive-thru which for many is utah's version of coffee grina's spouse has a vehicle and her two teenagers have cars as well they enjoy their time living in a single family home on the outskirts of town yet they hate traffic her friends and neighbors live in the same area and have a similar lifestyle does anyone see the irony here the truth is we all contribute to the problem so we all need to be a part of the solution and the solution is not as simple as the city widening the road and in this video i'm going to explain why so many places around north america fulfill the majority of their travel demand through driving when that occurs in medium and larger cities it leads to increased traffic congestion according to the 2019 annual urban mobility report by texas a m university americans on average spent 67 hours of time in traffic congestion annually for the largest 100 metros los angeles had the worst traffic with 119 hours of time wasted per person for the year that is a lot of traffic considering the salt lake area where i live sees 46 hours of annual delay and the pro area where i work sees 27 hours of annual delay so where does all this traffic come from and how does it get so bad first the question of where traffic comes from is fairly simple every time someone needs or wants to go somewhere it creates travel demand in a city where there are many people who need to go places there is a greater level of travel demand the larger the city the greater the demand now i'd like to talk about five factors that i believe lead to terrible traffic conditions this is not an all-inclusive list but focuses on some of the factors i believe need to be considered in city planning the first factor is the tragedy of the commons as more people must travel the same roadways we get to the point of the tragedy of the commons i was taught this concept in planning school as it relates to grazing livestock and field and there are just a few animals they'll be happy in the field and will maintain a good amount of grass however if there are too many animals then the field gets overgrazed and cannot support all the livestock roads work in the same way roads are a public good and when they get over utilized they suffer from chronic traffic congestion human behavior also compounds the issues such as recording effect seen here where people lag and speeding up behind the car in front of them roads get over utilized for different reasons but convenience is often one of the main reasons people will choose to drive when traffic gets bad enough people will start considering alternative modes if they are comfortable safe and convenient well no one walks or takes the train anymore everyone travels in cars shouldn't we be widening the roads to handle all the new traffic great question karina road whitening may seem like the obvious solution but it's not as straightforward as you may think that leads us to our next factor induced travel demand this is a phenomenon of human behavior that has been well documented showing that rotary widening invites more people to use it more often which ultimately leads to worse traffic congestion transportation for america released a report in 2020 about traffic congestion comparing changes in travel delay number of new freeway lane miles and the changing population from 1993 to 2017 highways were widened and built at a faster rate than population growth yet we still saw traffic congestion explode even in my neck of the woods this was true you would think that traffic issues would be kept at bay if roads were built faster than the population growth right if we continue to believe that highway widening is going to quote fix our traffic then we are in trouble the more severe the traffic congestion the lower people's willingness will be to wait through it when there's congestion people are going to think twice and trip chain adjust their travel times consider a different travel mode or just skip the trip all together the gut reaction to fix traffic is to widen the road if a road is widened things start to move more freely again when people see a fresh new road they use it once enough people flood the road then it's right back to traffic congestion then it gets widened again things move more freely people flood the road and back to congestion you can see where this is going now right it is this cycle that happens in so many cities but it never helps the problem it just gets worse it is a road widening cycle of shame where the hole gets deeper and deeper until your metro area ends up like los angeles or houston based on the data we know you absolutely cannot build your way out of traffic congestion with more roads the real problem is all that high-density housing with the new town homes and apartments bringing in all that traffic i'm glad you brought that up karina land use is our next factor and a critical piece of the puzzle and its effects on traffic can be counter-intuitive to what people may think transportation is all about getting from point a to point b where point a and point b are located is critical in knowing what travel mode someone will choose since people generally choose the most convenient option if point a is close to point b someone may be willing to walk or ride a bike on the other hand if point a is far from point b then most people will likely drive if convenient transit service is not available keeping that in mind population density matters since destinations such as schools shopping services and others require a certain number of households to support a new location the more spread out the households are so are the destinations which pushes people into driving their cars you are much less likely to drive if your home is located half mile from a grocery store than if your home is located five miles from a grocery store it doesn't take new york city style density to make alternative modes a realistic option but it does require more compact built environment than the many sprawling suburbs we see in the u.s going beyond population density is the mixing of land uses most cities in the us utilize euclidean zoning which by its nature segregates land uses into different zones taking zoning too far will remove the opportunity of bringing compatible uses closer together some people may think of commercial and residential like oil and water out of fear of increased traffic but realistically the right kinds of commercial will absolutely be beneficial and make a neighborhood less dependent on driving and the true way to reduce traffic impact here is a mixed use center under construction in my neighborhood that will include a small scale grocery store other retail spaces town homes and some apartments some neighbors oppose the project due to the apartments but i found that the grocery required that more housing be located within walking distance to support the new location i can't tell you how awesome it is to live in a suburb that doesn't suck so bad and how many people will be able to walk or ride their bike to the store next i want to talk about a factor affected by land use travel distances let me explain my theory why it compounds traffic the longer someone has to drive the more roads and intersections they will impact and the more their route will overlap with the roots of other people when trips keep overlapping on the many roadways traffic is born if trips are shorter than people's driving routes will overlap less and someone will impact fewer roadways in their journey here's an example if someone lives at point a and has to drive to work at point b then they utilize five major roadways and pass through 11 signalized intersections by contrast if someone lives here at point c and drives to work at point b then they utilize three major roadways and only pass through three signalized intersections now for my favorite option biking to work this house here actually has a direct connection to a bike path so they could just ride their bike to work and not compound any roadways if more people utilize alternative modes then this eliminates a share of vehicle traffic all together this idea of travel distance is critical in knowing why reducing vehicle miles traveled is a better traffic engineering goal than improving level of service reducing vehicle miles traveled gets at the root cause of traffic and pushes for a better land use and prioritizing a multi-modal approach whereas focusing on level of service chases the symptoms of the problem and primarily pushes for increased road capacity i hope to cover more on this in a future video the last factor i want to cover is the design and prioritization of travel modes there are many cases where destinations may be nearby and fairly convenient to walk or bike to it would be uncomfortable or dangerous which pushes people to drive not just bikes has a great video that shows just this and i put a link in the description for those who have not seen it as someone who spent a summer in houston i concur with this as the majority of the city was built for the car prioritization for different modes of travel is dependent on the political will funding and ultimately infrastructure design i think of the amount of prioritization like a watering can in a garden we have a finite amount of water to use and we must choose which plants to water and how much cities and states have a finite amount of funding and political will to design and construct transportation infrastructure when you use that water encounter prioritization for different modes get more of that mode share what kind of travel mode does this road invite what about this street what about this bike path what about a frequent train connection each of these has a different mobility prioritization we decide what kind of traffic we want to see more of in our cities most north american cities and many others around the world prioritize the convenience of driving and continue to water that plant when just about every aspect of our streets is designed for vehicle traffic that is what you end up with get what you pay for i say we keep putting so much of our hard-earned tax dollars into roads but continue to see worsening traffic congestion i don't know how many times we can do the same thing and expect different results realistically we must strive for a balance and a multi-modal city is one that would provide true freedom of mobility through providing multiple mobility options now i'll say to karina if you don't like traffic do something about it mark your suburban take a jog to grab a soda encourage your kids to walk or bike to school talk to your local leadership about making alternative modes of travel safer and more convenient i'm just saying that you don't even have to worry about traffic when you're walking on the train or riding a bike it is liberating to me not to be stuck in a car everywhere i go and all you have to do is just smile and wave you

Channel: Bike Quest with Mike West

Views: 21,360

Keywords: Urban Planning, Traffic, Design

Id: oJ3acZ7sJgQ

Length: 12min 24sec (744 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 06 2021