Personal tools

Your Central Puget Sound Information Source for Making Sustainable Choices

 
You are here:   Home → Built Environment → Annual Traffic Delay per Peak Traveler
Document Actions

Indicator: Annual Traffic Delay per Peak Traveler

Data and Data Discussion provided by Communities Count

Figure 2: On-Time Performance, King County Metro Transit

Figure 1: Local Traffic Congestion Trends

view full size
Upstream Indicators

There are currently no published Upstream Indicators.

Downstream Indicators

There are currently no published Downstream Indicators.

Related Goals

Sustainability Snapshot:

In the U.S, drivers waste billions of gallons of fuel while idling in traffic. Moreover, congestion causes stress and reduces the amount of time spent with family and friends and in recreational pursuits. It’s estimated that the total cost of delays is Central Puget Sound is over $1.5 billion per year. (1) This includes both loss of productive time by travelers as well as higher vehicle operating costs due to congestion.

Sustainability Trend:

In the past 10 years, the annual traffic delay per traveler in the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area has decreased from 52 hours to 45 hours. However, the area is one of the worst for unreliability and congestion costs and on-time performance for King County Metro busses is below targets.

Data Discussion

The Indicator Defined

Annual Traffic Delay Per Peak Traveler.

Data Interpretation/Evaluation

In 2005, the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area was second lowest among the 14 largest urban areas in traffic delays, at 45 hours per traveler spent in traffic yearly. In the past 10 years, the annual delay per traveler has decreased from 52 hours. Los Angeles had the longest delays at 72 hours yearly. The Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area was one of the worst nationally for traffic unreliability (travelers needed to allow more than twice as much time as a regular trip if they wanted to arrive on time for an important event) (data not shown)

 

While traffic delays declined in the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area, congestion costs rose sharply after 2002. Nationally, the average congestion cost per traveler in urban areas was $707 in 2005, up from $657 in 2004. The Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area had a higher cost in 2005 of $866. Congestion cost is based on lost time and additional fuel used due to traffic delays.

 

People who travel by bus also face some delays.  On-time performance by King County Metro busses is below target levels.  See Figure 2.

Data Source and Limitations

Data on this comes from Communities Count (www.communitiescount.org).  Annual traffic delay and congestion costs per peak traveler was gathered from the 2007 Urban Mobility Study developed by the Texas Transportation Institute http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/. The definition of the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett Highway Urban Area is available at http://www.ofm.wa.gov/pop/special/hua/ .

collapse all

Additional Resources

  • Urban Area Report for Mobility 1992 to 2005
    This performance measure report gives detailed traffic statistics for the Seattle metropolitan area and compares it to congestion conditions in other large metropolitan areas. Published by the Texas Transportation Institute of Texas A&M University.