Why It’s Good News That Americans Are Wasting More Time in Traffic

America’s roads have been a little quieter in recent years, thanks to a lethargic economy that has left many out of jobs. Now that’s starting to change...

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Of the 20 U.S. metropolitan areas with the worst traffic-congestion problems, 15 are seeing American drivers once again losing more time to traffic than the previous year, according to an analysis of data provided by INRIX, a firm that tracks traffic patterns. In the remaining five cities, which include New York and Washington, D.C., time wasted in cars due to congestion largely leveled off—the declines were minor compared with a few years ago.

Drivers in Los Angeles, for example, wasted five hours and 44 minutes in traffic this September, on average, up from five hours and 22 minutes in September 2012. By contrast, the time they wasted dropped between 2010 and 2011 from six hours and 55 minutes to five hours and 47 minutes. Drivers in Honolulu, San Francisco, Austin, Chicago, and Philadelphia, among others, have all seen a similar pattern—a big drop in wasted time as the economy struggled and then an uptick over the past year.

The increasing bustle on many of America’s roads suggests a growing number of Americans, especially the more affluent, are recovering from the 2007-2009 recession and getting back out on the road—making more trips to and from work, the shopping mall, vacations.

Federal Reserve officials after their two-day policy meeting yesterday stuck to their view that the economy is expanding “at a moderate pace” and exhibits growing underlying strength. If the economy actually gets out of low gear, roads could eventually become more congested, meaning more bottlenecks and longer travel times for commuters—perhaps a small price to pay for lower joblessness and higher economic growth.

INRIX, which gets data from commercial trucks, cars and mobile-phone applications, started tracking arterials, city streets and other secondary roads in 2009—in addition to highways and interstates—making comparisons with prerecession years difficult. The Washington firm gets its findings by comparing the time it takes to get places with what the trip should ideally take in free-flowing traffic.

“What we saw from 2007 to 2008 [was] that traffic congestion dropped 30% nationwide—most dramatically in the morning commute hours, a true sign that less people were going to work because of layoffs,” says Jim Bak, a traffic analyst at INRIX. Of course, soaring gasoline prices also played a key role.

“It’s been very interesting for us to see how the patterns have shifted” since then, he said.

A broader analysis—looking at the nation’s 100 most populous U.S. metro areas—also suggests earlier reductions in wasted time are generally leveling off. Congestion is generally rising in cities benefiting from thriving technology and entertainment sectors (Austin, San Jose, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas) and improving real-estate markets. Some Southern cities and  places where local economies are fueled by manufacturing and military spending, meanwhile, are still seeing declines, though less so.

The picture is different from Europe, which seems starkly divided even in its congestion patterns: Drivers in Berlin, Germany—the 17-nation euro area’s biggest and strongest economy—saw their “time wasted” inch up this September to one hour and 49 minutes from one hour and 40 minutes a year earlier. However, Madrid’s time wasted figure has plummeted continually, even as its economy has improved slightly—from four hours and 56 minutes in September 2010 to just one hour and 56 minutes this year. What’s to blame? Probably Spain’s whopping unemployment rate of 26%.

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Why It’s Good News That Americans Are Wasting More Time in Traffic
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/10/31/why-its-good-news-that-americans-are-wasting-more-time-in-traffic/?mod=WSJ_hp_EditorsPicks 
October 31, 2013, 12:53 PM
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