A national survey shows that rush-hour congestion is starting to get worse again in most U.S. cities, a good indication that the economy is on the mend. But that wasn't the case in North Carolina's two biggest metropolitan areas, Raleigh-Cary and Charlotte.
The INRIX National Traffic Scorecard released last week found that average rush-hour delays grew a bit longer last year in most of the nation's top 100 metropolitan areas. Because of congestion, the average commuter trip took 8.9 percent longer than it would have in free-flowing traffic. That's just slightly worse than the average of 8.8 percent that the traffic information company reported for 2008.
North Carolina's numbers look different. Instead of getting a little worse, INRIX reported, traffic conditions were slightly better last year in the Charlotte and Raleigh-Cary areas. Rush-hour congestion added only 4 percent to commuter trip times in the Raleigh-Cary area last year; in 2008, the number was 4.1 percent.
After two months of 2010, Triangle commuters and business people say it's hard to tell whether traffic here signals an economic turnaround.
"It's still nowhere near as heavy as it was two years ago before everything went in the tank," said John Mark Smith, 44, who drives the 540 Outer Loop each day from East Raleigh to Research Triangle Park. "There's still a lot less construction and landscaping trucks out and about in the mornings - and we used to see them all the time."
Harvey Schmitt, president of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, says it makes sense that the rush-hour drive is easier.
"The bottom line is, when the economy goes down, so does traffic," Schmitt said. "If we poll people when the economy is doing well, the number one issue is traffic. When the economy is doing poorly, the number one issue is jobs."
Schmitt said the Triangle saw a similar drop in traffic congestion in the early 2000s, when the dot-com bubble broke. "The circumstances surrounding our situation today are not a surprise."
On Wade Avenue
But is the traffic rebounding? Terry White of Cary is already seeing more congestion on her daily commute. She works off Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. Wade Avenue is busier in the afternoon, so recently she started trying a different route out of town via Western Boulevard.
"It seems to be just since Christmas that it has gotten worse," said White, 50. "It's like everybody who goes to work at 8:30 in the morning gets off with me at 5 o'clock, too."
INRIX, a privately held company based near Seattle, provides traffic information to a variety of customers, using GPS technology to track the flow of 1.6 million vehicles across the country. Whether or not the tide has turned in the Triangle, the company's numbers are consistent with other indicators that Americans have started driving more.
The Federal Highway Administration estimated last week that total traffic volumes on the nation's roads grew by 0.2 percent in 2009, after a drop of 3.6 percent in 2008. For North Carolina roads, the 2009 traffic estimate was up by 0.1 percent.
Schmitt is looking ahead to the good old days of bad traffic.
"We were late into the recession in terms of job creation losses," he said. "My sense is we'll be on the leading edge out when things start to perk."
New habits form
Raleigh's continued lower traffic numbers might be a sign that more Triangle commuters are using phones and computers to work from home, Schmitt said.
And more Triangle workers these days are taking the bus, a habit they learned when gas cost $3 and $4 a gallon.
"Ridership for transit has remained really high," said Eric J. Lamb, Raleigh city transportation services manager. "Even as gas prices came back down, the transit numbers didn't fall off the same way."
Lamb says he has not noticed any improvement in the daily drive to work. He doesn't know of any economic indicators that would explain local traffic improving while national traffic worsens.
"But hey, if we can get a little relief in the transportation system, I'll take it."
