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to build highways. As a result, the state’s
transportation budget now includes debt
service on $17 billion in bonds. When
other forms of debt are included, the
total comes to about $23 billion.
Bad and getting worse
The state’s chronic traffic problem carries
a significant cost every year, according
to the Texas A&M Transportation
Institute’s Urban Mobility Report:
- 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.
On a personal level, average urban
commuters pay about $1,000 in added costs
every year, largely because of the roughly 40
extra hours they spend in traffic.
Daily commutes have not only become
more costly and time-consuming.
They’ve also become much harder to
predict. The Urban Mobility Report’s
“Planning Time Index” (or PTI)
illustrates this fact, measuring the added
travel time that should be allowed for
higher-priority trips, such as those
involving a medical appointment or
airline departure. With a PTI of 3.0, a
traveler should allow one hour for a trip
that routinely requires only 20 minutes.
Today, drivers in Austin, Dallas-Fort
Worth, El Paso and Houston all have
PTIs higher than 3.0.
And although gridlock is most
conspicuous in our largest urban areas,
traffic congestion is not exclusively
a big-city problem. Traffic jams in
Houston or Dallas can drive up the cost
of goods being shipped to countless
smaller communities across the state.
Growing public awareness
The Texas traffic problem has been
worsening in slow motion, but Texans
are beginning to notice it more. In a poll
taken last year by TTI’s Transportation
Policy Research Center, three-fourths of
respondents said that they experience
traffic congestion where they live,
and they attribute that congestion to
economic and population growth.
Those findings were reinforced by a
more recent poll by the University of
Texas and
The Texas Tribune
.
Respondents to the TTI poll have little
understanding of how the state pays
for its transportation needs. Only
about half, in fact, know that the state
motor fuels tax is based on a per-gallon
amount, unlike the percentage-based
state sales tax. And fewer than one
percent know the amount of fuel tax that
they pay. This lack of understanding is
widespread, and it’s common among all
demographic groups.
Most respondents said they believe
a quality transportation system is
important to the state, and nearly two
thirds also believe the state should invest
more money in its transportation system.
There was no consensus on how that
should be done, however, and predictably,
people generally don’t want that extra
money to come out of their pockets.
Of the options they were offered, people
are most supportive of dedicating the
motor vehicle sales tax to transportation
needs. Notably, our state’s leaders have
recently taken steps in that direction.
Respondents are least supportive of
raising the vehicle registration fee from
$65 to $115.
And from a list of 15 different ways to
improve transportation in the state,
better traffic signal timing and clearing
accidents more quickly are the most
popular ideas. Building more toll roads
is the least-supported option.
The findings also indicate that most
Texans may be reluctant to make
significant lifestyle changes to cope
with congestion, such as changing
where they live. Either this is because
congestion has not yet reached a point
where people feel compelled to make
