Hub no longer has worst traffic in U.S.
Take fourth-worst spot in new report
Boston has managed to shed the dubious distinction of having the worst traffic in America, according to a new report amid the coronavirus pandemic, but a leading transportation advocate warned that higher congestion levels are “going to come back.”
The Hub in 2020 had the fourth-worst traffic in the country after two years in the top spot of the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, which reveals the most congested cities in the U.S. and world.
Boston drivers lost 48 hours in traffic congestion last year, compared to 101 hours lost in traffic in 2019, when the city had the nation’s worst gridlock. That’s a 68% plummet amid the pandemic.
“Boston and Washington, D.C., experienced the largest cost savings with drivers pocketing more than $1,000 in each city due to the reduction in traffic delay brought on by the sharp drop in vehicle-miles traveled (VMT),” reads the report released today.
Overall, the average American driver lost 26 hours due to congestion last year, down from 99 hours in 2019.
It appears that a lasting reduction in trips to the urban core helped cut down on delays, Bob Pishue, the author of the INRIX report, told the Herald. He said it’s not clear why that’s particularly the case for Boston, but there could be a “million reasons” that contribute to it in the middle of a pandemic, including work-from home trends and tourism.
“In Boston by the end of December, trips to downtown were down 70%,” Pishue said. “Only San Francisco and Detroit had a larger decrease.”
“In the Boston area one interesting thing though is that the amount people drive — VMT — is down, but delays are down more than double that,” he added. “That tells me that in the Boston area, you don’t need to decrease the amount people travel that much to make a big difference.”
Boston transportation advocates have long argued the same — that small reductions in the number of cars on the road can have an outsized impact on traffic.
While traffic levels are lower now, higher congestion levels are “going to come back,” warned Chris Dempsey of the advocacy group Transportation for Massachusetts.
“Whether we’re ranked first in the country or fourth in the country or 10th in the country, congestion is a problem that remains worth fixing,” said Dempsey, pushing for “better policy decisions” out of the State House, including adding time-of-day pricing, which has been effective in other cities.