Congested Washington metropolitan area traffic does more than waste drivers’ time and gas — the uptick in cars is damaging the roads, and a shrinking transportation budget is unable to keep pace with with the overuse, researchers at this university’s National Transportation Center found.
The center, which focuses on transportation economics across the country, recently released a report about the spread of traffic congestion patterns from cities to suburban areas and the effects it will have by 2045. Although expanding roadways seems like a simple solution for the increasing number of vehicles, it’s not that easy, said Mark Franz, an assistant director at the National Transportation Center.
“We are recognizing that demands keep growing and there are limited resources to expand roads,” Franz said “The funding mechanism is a bit dated, so we don’t have the money to [improve roads].”
Another report, released by the U.S. Transportation Department stated that 65 percent of U.S. roads are in “less than good condition” and indicated that 25 percent of U.S. bridges need repairs.
Problems with highway and road infrastructure received attention earlier this month, when on Feb. 10, concrete fell from a bridge on the Capital Beltway, hitting a car but causing no injuries. This prompted officials to start planning the inspection of about two dozen bridges in the Washington metropolitan area.
But funding deficits could cause a delay to these repairs, said Lei Zhang, director of the National Transportation Center.
This state’s federal transportation funding dropped by $57 million over a period of five years, ending in 2013, according to the Associated Press. More fuel-efficient cars and hybrid vehicles are also taking away from the transportation budget, Franz said, as the decrease in gas station visits translates into less tax revenue for the state from every tank sold.
“The government should put some kind of tax on driving hybrid vehicles, because those who drive gas-powered cars are contributing to improving or repairing infrastructure such as roads and bridges by paying taxes on gas,” said Eric King, a sophomore computer science major. “It’s almost like hybrids are using the roads for free, because they are not contributing to its repair and maintenance.”
To combat the growing deficit, former Gov. Martin O’Malley proposed a 3-cent gas tax increase set to begin Jan. 1, which Gov. Larry Hogan repealed, a move that a state budget analysis suggested could cost the state $3 billion in revenue.
“We have less and less money while this nation has a vast aging infrastructure,” Zhang said. “The way we fund the current transportation system is not going to be sustainable.”
Although lack of funding remains an issue, officials around the country are using alternate strategies to improve current traffic norms and patterns to reduce congestion, Franz said.
The active traffic management systems, which engineers utilize when regulating traffic, analyze real-time traffic data to detect when and where congestion is building. Transportation engineers have tested these systems locally, and they are used regularly on other roads.
Near Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Route 100 underwent similar mitigation techniques during a six-week study in 2010 in which the speed limit varied depending on the amount of congestion, Franz said.
