A M E R I C A N H I G H W AY U S E R S A L L I A N C E Unclogging America’s Arteries 2015 Prescriptions for Healthier Highways 2015 l WWW.HIGHWAYS.ORG TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................................... FOREWORD......................................................................................................................................... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................................................................................................................... RANKINGS............................................................................................................................................ ACRONYMS.......................................................................................................................................... CHAPTER ONE: WHY ASSESS NATIONAL BOTTLENECKS?....................................................... What are highway bottlenecks and how do we fix them?................................................ What causes highway congestion?....................................................................................... What are the effects of congestion?..................................................................................... Why study highway congestion…again?.............................................................................. Objectives of the report........................................................................................................... Organization of the Report..................................................................................................... Special Topics: Optimizing Existing Assets...................................................................................................... Emerging Technologies and Future Possibilities................................................................ CHAPTER TWO: AMERICA’S TOP BOTTLENECKS....................................................................... Chicago....................................................................................................................................... Los Angeles................................................................................................................................ New York Metro Area............................................................................................................... Austin.......................................................................................................................................... San Francisco............................................................................................................................. Boston......................................................................................................................................... Seattle......................................................................................................................................... Miami........................................................................................................................................... Houston...................................................................................................................................... Atlanta......................................................................................................................................... Washington, DC........................................................................................................................ Dallas........................................................................................................................................... Other Notable Areas: Denver, Philadelphia, Norfolk & Tampa........................................ Truck Bottlenecks..................................................................................................................... CHAPTER THREE: BENEFITS OF ADDRESSING CONGESTION................................................. Benefits of Alleviating the Top 30 Bottlenecks................................................................... Success Story 1: Wilson Bridge Reconstruction (MD-VA-DC)......................................... Success Story 2: Katy Freeway Reconstruction (Houston, TX)....................................... Success Story 3: Marquette Interchange (Milwaukee, WI)............................................... Appendix A: America’s Top 50 Bottlenecks.................................................................................. Appendix B: Other Zones of Congestion in US States................................................................ Appendix C: Methodological Annex.............................................................................................. 0 American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS HERE North America, LLC (HERE) and the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) provided data and technical assistance in data preparation. HERE—a leader in navigation, mapping and location experiences — supplied the passenger vehicle data for this report. ATRI—a leader in transportation-related research and part of the American Trucking Associations—supplied freight movement data for this report. The American Highway Users Alliance thanks one of our valued members—the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission in Dayton, Ohio—for sponsoring our use of the HERE/ ATRI dataset. This dataset uses the same GPS probe data that feeds the Federal Highway Administration’s National Performance Management Research Dataset (NPMRDS). State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) responded to the data validation survey and provided detailed feedback on the bottlenecks analysis. We thank Caltrans (CA), CDOT (CO), FDOT (FL), GDOT (GA), IDOT (IL), ODOT (OR), PennDOT (PA), TxDOT (TX), and WSDOT (WA) for their expertise and feedback. AAA Clubs in the following regions provided local knowledge of road conditions and additional feedback for validation: AAA Northeast, Automobile Club of Southern California, the Auto Club Group (ACG), AAA Chicago, AAA Mid-Atlantic, AAA Oregon/Idaho, AAA Washington. We thank each of these motoring clubs and AAA National for their assistance. l CPCS Transcom Inc. (CPCS) conducted this study and prepared the final report for the American Highway Users Alliance. CPCS is a management consulting firm specializing in transportation sector strategy, economic analysis, and policy. With more than 100 professionals in 15 global offices, CPCS has an established track record of providing clear, high quality advice to government and corporate clients. CPCS Transcom Inc. (CPCS) • 1050 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500 • Washington, DC 20036 202.772.3350 • washington@cpcstrans.com Since 1932, the American Highway Users Alliance has represented motorists, RV enthusiasts, truckers, bus companies, motorcyclists, and a broad cross-section of businesses that depend on safe and efficient highways to transport their families, customers, employees, and products. Highway Users members pay the fuel taxes and other user fees that fund the federal highway program. We advocate public policies that dedicate highway user revenue to improved safety and mobility. 1920 L Street NW, Suite 525 • Washington DC 20036 202.857.1200 • www.highways.org 0 American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 FOREWORD WHAT IS UNCLOGGING AMERICA’S ARTERIES 2015? U nclogging America’s Arteries 2015 utilizes vehicle speed data to identify the 50 worst highway bottlenecks across the nation, highlighting the benefits of improving the top 30. Our nation’s top bottlenecks bring passenger and freight traffic to a crawl on key Interstate and freeway facilities every day, across the country, and negatively affect U.S. economic competitiveness, the environment, and quality of life. For drivers of personal and commercial vehicles in affected regions these bottlenecks are very real and the impacts of constant and crushing delays have significant implications on their productivity and health. HOW DID WE IDENTIFY THE BOTTLENECKS? continued 0 t To identify the bottlenecks, CPCS Transcom Inc. (CPCS), a management consulting firm specializing in transportation strategy and policy, utilized the latest observed vehicle speed data from the HERE/ATRI dataset. Our nation’s top bottlenecks This is the same data that is processed bring passenger and into the Federal Highway Administration’s freight traffic to a crawl (FHWA) National Performance Management and negatively affect U.S. Research Dataset (NPMRDS), which is then economic competitiveness, the made available to state departments of environment, and quality of life. transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). The GPS probe-based data are collected from smartphones, personal navigation devices (PNDs) and vehicles. As part of the analysis, the American Highway Users Alliance and CPCS contacted state DOTs to validate the findings and better understand the nature and precise location of the nation’s top bottlenecks. American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 FOREWORD WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR U.S. ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS AND QUALITY OF LIFE? Some of the bottlenecks stretch for miles, bringing traffic flow to a crawl for many hours of the day—even well outside traditional peak commuting hours. Others are shorter, yet persistently slow—frustrating travelers and adding significant costs to freight deliveries. This situation is untenable for the world’s largest economy. To unclog America’s arteries will require significant investments—not only in capacity but also in the form of improved operations and technologies to lessen impacts and get traffic moving. This report comes at a critical time: with the U.S. Congress poised to advance the first long-term highway bill since 2005, States will have a much greater ability to plan and implement major congestion relief projects. Reinvesting in our critical infrastructure advances national economic competitiveness, safety, the environment, and quality of life for millions of Americans. l With the U.S. Congress poised to advance the first long-term highway bill since 2005, States will have a much greater ability to plan and implement major congestion relief projects. 0 American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SEVERE CONGESTION continues to stymie passenger and freight movement on many of America’s critical urban Interstates and freeways. This 2015 update to Unclogging America’s Arteries identifies the 50 worst highway bottlenecks in the U.S. and demonstrates that the cost of doing nothing is too significant to ignore.1 BOTTLENECKS IMPOSE MASSIVE DELAYS AND COSTS ON U.S. DRIVERS AND BUSINESSES. $39 BILLION Present value of time This study assessed congestion on urban Interstates and savings over 20 years if other access controlled highways using observed vehicle we fix the nation’s worst speed data from 2014. The top 30 metro-area bottlenecks each cause at least one million hours of delay per year, 30 bottlenecks and three million on average.2 The worst bottleneck in Chicago, Illinois experiences nearly 17 million hours of delay per year. We profile these hotspots in detail. Drivers stuck on these roads altogether experience delays of about 91 million hours every year, the equivalent of 45,500 person-work years.3 The lost value of time to the economy from congestion in this handful of locations is upwards of 2.4 billion dollars annually—or enough each year to fund several major transportation solutions to alleviate congestion.4 SEVERE LOCALIZED BOTTLENECKS STAND OUT. continued t The top bottlenecks are mostly concentrated in our largest cities. The nation’s worst bottleneck is a 12-mile stretch of the Kennedy Expressway (I-90) in Chicago, between the “Circle” Interchange (with I-290) and the Edens Junction (at I-94). It was among the most severe even in 2004, and outranks the others in our 2015 list both in terms of total delays as well as queue length.5 Eleven of the 30 most severe bottlenecks are in the Los Angeles region, six of them among the top 10. The New York metropolitan area is home to five bottlenecks in the top 30. The I-35 corridor running through downtown Austin, Texas is number 10 on the list with about 3 million hours of annual total delay. 1 See our 2004 report. See also Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), and American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) for a series of relevant studies. 2 Annual figures assume 260 travel weekdays hours per year. Weekends are not included in our study. 3 mployed persons on average work 8 hours a day for about 250 days a year, according to the US Bureau of E Labor Statistics Time of Use Survey (2014) 4 sing the average value of a volunteer hour in each state, for 260 weekdays driven in a year. This is likely an U underestimate even for this small number of locations. 5 For ranking bottlenecks, we define our main congestion metric of Daily Total Delay as the cumulative delays experienced by all vehicles entering and leaving a congestion queue in all hours of a representative non-holiday weekday. This metric accounts for both length of the bottleneck (queue length) and expected volume through that bottleneck over a 24-hour period. See Appendix C: Methodology for more details. 0 American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY America’s Top Bottlenecks in 2015 CONGESTION IS NOT JUST A METROPOLITAN PROBLEM. Small growing cities and some rural areas also experience high-levels of delays and associated costs. We also identify other bottlenecks in many US states. These congestion zones impose significant costs on local drivers and the local economy. ALLEVIATING CONGESTION UNLOCKS ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND SAFETY BENEFITS. continued 0 t In addition to freeing up drivers’ valuable lost time for other productive work or leisure, reduced congestion saves fuel and curbs greenhouse gas emissions. Eliminating congestion in the nation’s top 30 bottlenecks alone can save more than 35 million gallons of fuel every year and reduce by about 740 million pounds the CO2 emitted from both trucks and passenger cars. These benefits roughly amount to 830 million gallons in fuel savings and 17 billion pounds in avoided CO2 emissions over the next two decades. The present value of time that could be regained is $39 billion. American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TARGETED INVESTMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY AND CAPACITY CAN PROVIDE RELIEF ON THE MOST SEVERE SEGMENTS. 12 MILES The estimated length of the country’s worst congestion bottleneck, in Chicago on I-90 between the ‘Circle’ Interchange and Edens Junction. In its 2014 Cost of Congestion report, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) determined that 89 percent of truck-related congestion costs were associated with only 12 percent of road miles traveled.1 This suggests that efforts can be focused on the most problematic areas. Most of these solutions do not automatically imply large investments in highway capacity additions or mass transit projects. In fact, many solutions are designed to simply make existing capacity more efficient. Information and communications technologies have made it easier than ever before for drivers and system operators to make informed choices, with much of the infrastructure already in place. What is needed is cohesive, systematic thinking with the resolve to infuse resources in cost-effective, high-impact investments. l The available fuel savings for both trucks and passenger cars from eliminating the 30 worst bottlenecks. 35 MILLION GALLONS A YEAR 1 ATRI (2014). Cost of Congestion to the Trucking Industry. Arlington, Virginia. 0 American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 RANKINGS AMERICA’S TOP 50 BOTTLENECKS Our study identified the nation’s top 50 bottlenecks, listed below. National Rank State Urban Area Location Queue Length (miles) Annual Total Delay (hours) Annual Lost Annual Fuel Value Of Time Wasted / (US $) Potential Savings (gallons) 1 Illinois Chicago I90 between Roosevelt Rd and N Nagle Ave 12.0 16,900,000 $ 418,000,000 6,370,000 2 California Los Angeles I405 between SR22 and I605 4.1 7,100,000 $ 191,000,000 1,819,480 3 California Los Angeles I10 between Santa Fe Ave and Crenshaw Blvd 6.9 6,900,000 $ 187,000,000 2,231,840 4 California Los Angeles I405 between Venice Blvd and Wilshire Blvd 5.2 6,300,000 $ 169,000,000 1,961,960 5 California Los Angeles US101 between Franklin Ave and Glendale Blvd 4.4 5,400,000 $ 146,000,000 1,761,500 6 California Los Angeles I110 between Exposition Blvd and Stadium Way 4.3 5,400,000 $ 145,000,000 1,855,880 7 California Los Angeles US101 between Sepulveda Blvd and Laurel Canyon Blvd 3.8 3,600,000 $ 96,000,000 1,047,800 8 New York and New Jersey New York Lincoln Tunnel between 10th Ave and John F Kennedy Blvd 2.6 3,400,000 $ 87,000,000 1,730,300 9 New York New York I95 between I895 and Broadway 3.1 3,000,000 $ 82,000,000 1,545,700 10 Texas Austin I35 between East Riverside Dr and E Dean Keeton St 3.0 3,000,000 $ 73,000,000 1,776,320 11 California Los Angeles I5/I10 between N Mission Rd and US101 2.0 2,300,000 $ 62,000,000 966,680 12 California San Francisco I80 between US101 and Bay Bridge 1.9 2,200,000 $ 59,000,000 797,680 13 California Los Angeles I10 between La Brea Ave and National Blvd 2.2 2,100,000 $ 57,000,000 551,720 14 California Los Angeles I5 between S Eastern Ave and Euclid Ave 2.0 2,100,000 $ 56,000,000 992,160 15 Massachusetts Boston I93 between I90 and US1 1.9 2,100,000 $ 58,000,000 1,980,680 16 California Oakland I80 between I580 and Ashby Ave 2.0 1,900,000 $ 50,000,000 691,860 17 Washington Seattle I5 between Madison St. and Exit 168A 1.6 1,600,000 $ 45,000,000 619,840 0 American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 RANKINGS AMERICA’S TOP 50 BOTTLENECKS (CONTINUED) State Urban Area Location Queue Length (miles) Annual Total Delay (hours) Annual Lost Annual Fuel Value Of Time Wasted / (US $) Potential Savings (gallons) 18 New Jersey New York I95 between SR4 and Palisades Interstate Pkwy in Fort Lee 0.9 1,500,000 $ 38,000,000 810,680 19 New Jersey New York Pulaski Skyway between I95 and Central Ave in Newark 1.1 1,400,000 $ 36,000,000 856,960 20 Florida Miami Palmetto Expy between 41st St. and Dolphin Expy 1.7 1,400,000 $ 30,000,000 647,400 21 New York New York I678 between Queens Blvd and Liberty Ave 1.4 1,400,000 $ 37,000,000 512,980 22 Texas Houston I610 between Richmond Ave and Post Oak Blvd 1.3 1,300,000 $ 31,000,000 509,340 23 Illinois Chicago I90 Between I55 and W Pershing Rd 1.2 1,300,000 $ 31,000,000 678,600 24 Georgia Atlanta I75/I85 between Freedom Pkwy NE and North Ave NE 1.3 1,200,000 $ 27,000,000 392,600 25 Texas Houston I69/I59 between Hazard St and Buffalo Speedway 1.3 1,100,000 $ 28,000,000 613,080 26 Virginia Washington, DC I395 between Washington Blvd and George Washington Memorial Pkwy 1.1 1,100,000 $ 27,000,000 322,660 27 Texas Dallas Woodall Rodgers Freeway 1.1 1,100,000 $ 26,000,000 470,860 28 Massachusetts Boston I93 between Edge Hill Rd and West St 1.2 1,000,000 $ 28,000,000 362,700 29 California Los Angeles I405 between Burbank Blvd and Ventura Blvd 1.0 1,000,000 $ 26,000,000 339,820 30 California Los Angeles US101 between SR110 and Alameda St 1.0 1,000,000 $ 26,000,000 434,200 31 New Jersey New York US1&9 between Wilson Ave and I78 0.8 800,000 $ 21,000,000 291,720 32 Florida Miami Dolphin Expy between 72nd Ave and Palmetto Expy 0.5 800,000 $ 17,000,000 405,080 33 New York New York Brooklyn Bridge 0.9 800,000 $ 21,000,000 577,460 34 Texas Houston US290 between I610 and Mangum Rd 0.9 800,000 $ 19,000,000 405,860 continued 0 American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 t National Rank RANKINGS AMERICA’S TOP 50 BOTTLENECKS (CONTINUED) National Rank State Urban Area Location Queue Length (miles) 35 Colorado Denver I25 between Santa Fe Dr and S Logan St 0.8 700,000 $ 18,000,000 356,980 36 Pennsylvania Philadelphia I76 at US1 between City Ave and Roosevelt Blvd 0.8 700,000 $ 16,000,000 263,120 37 New Jersey New York Pulaski Skyway between Tonnelle Ave and Broadway 0.7 600,000 $ 15,000,000 347,620 38 Virginia Norfolk US58 at Martin Luther King Fwy in Portsmouth 0.6 600,000 $ 16,000,000 210,600 39 Florida Miami Dolphin Expy between 17th Ave and 22nd Ave 0.6 500,000 $ 11,000,000 158,080 40 California Los Angeles I10 between I5 and US101 0.6 500,000 $ 13,000,000 240,240 41 Virginia Washington, DC I495 at the Dulles Toll Road 0.5 500,000 $ 12,000,000 146,900 42 New York New York Long Island Expressway (I495) near I-278 between 58th St and 48th St. 0.4 400,000 $ 10,000,000 117,260 43 Texas Dallas I30 between St. Paul St. and I45 0.4 400,000 $ 9,000,000 174,200 44 Virginia Washington, DC I395 from Duke St to halfway between Duke St and Edsall Rd 0.3 300,000 $ 8,000,000 83,720 45 Florida Tampa I4 between N 22nd St and N Nebraska Ave 0.4 300,000 $ 7,000,000 191,100 46 Illinois Chicago I94 between I90 interchange and N Elston Ave 0.3 300,000 $ 7,000,000 106,860 47 Pennsylvania Philadelphia I676 between I76 interchange and N 24th St 0.3 300,000 $ 6,000,000 112,580 48 Texas Dallas US75 between N Haskell Avenue and SR366 0.3 200,000 $ 6,000,000 127,920 49 Georgia Atlanta T. Harvey Mathis Pkwy between Johnson Ferry Rd NE and I285 0.3 200,000 $ 6,000,000 73,580 50 Massachusetts Boston I90 from Dorchester Ave to A St 0.3 200,000 $ 7,000,000 135,720 0 Annual Total Delay (hours) Annual Lost Annual Fuel Value Of Time Wasted / (US $) Potential Savings (gallons) American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015 ACRONYMS 0 AADTT annual average daily truck traffic AADT annual average daily traffic AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials AHUA American Highway Users Alliance ATRI American Transportation Research Institute CO2 carbon dioxide DMS Dynamic Message Signs DOT Department of Transportation FFS free-flow speed FHWA Federal Highway Administration GPS global positioning system HOT high-occupancy toll HOV high-occupancy vehicle HPMS Highway Performance Monitoring System ITS Intelligent Transportation Systems MPO metropolitan planning organizations MTS maximum throughput speed NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement NPMRDS National Performance Management Research Data Set SR State Route TMC traffic message channel TTI Texas A&M Transportation Institute VMT vehicle-miles traveled American Highway Users Alliance l Unclogging America’s Arteries l 2015