If you think that rush-hour traffic is getting worse, it is. The 2004 Urban Mobility Study concluded that the crush of commuting has doubled since 1982 the hours that motorists spend waiting in traffic. The Charleston-North Charleston area is considered the second most congested metro region of its size in the nation.
Rush-hour congestion can be attributed in part to the area's residential growth. And to some extent, it is caused by poor planning that promotes urban sprawl, as a spokesman for the Coastal Conservation League observed in our news report.
But it also speaks to the inadequacy of existing roads and of public mass transit to manage the increasing number of commuters. The worsening traffic situation should encourage improvements in each.
It also should encourage support for a referendum on a local half-percent sales tax that would serve as a primary source for local transportation improvements, including mass transit. Without revenue generated by the tax, the local bus system will in all likelihood cease to operate.
That 83 percent of the $1.3 billion to be raised by the tax will be used for transportation-related projects is recognition that the problem can't be handled by existing means. The remaining 17 percent of the revenue will largely be spent on green space purchases to serve the dual purposes of limiting sprawl and preserving the area's rural landscape.
The need for road funding is evident in Mount Pleasant's pending request for help from the State Infrastructure Bank to provide $120 million for road projects, should the sales tax referendum fail. The town, however, can expect little aid from that source, since the Infrastructure Bank has no funds to offer for at least the next four years.
Motorists who have seen their hours in transit grow ever longer should take some of that time to ponder how matters will only get worse without a plan for transportation relief. The Urban Mobility Study reports that 22 hours are annually spent in rush-hour traffic in the metro area, and estimates the annual expense of wasted time and gas at $95 million.
An improved mass transit system -- one that provides better service and is more broadly used -- will perform an essential role in reducing congestion during the rush-hour commute. The Mobility Study recognizes the value that the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority, even in its truncated form, provides to commuters, including those in cars. It estimates that the disappearance of CARTA would increase the annual average commuting time by an hour and the wasted expense of the local commute by another $2 million.
In the last general election, voters recognized that the half-percent sales tax is needed to alleviate traffic woes and ensure the continued existence of public transit. Because it is a sales tax, it has the added benefit of being supported by the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit the Charleston area, and who are expected to contribute a full third of its take.
Unfortunately, flawed ballot language caused the results to be overturned by the court. The continuing deterioration of traffic conditions in the metropolitan area, cited in the Urban Mobility Study, should help convince voters to reaffirm their support for the half-percent sales tax when they go to the polls in November.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.charleston.net/stories/091304/edi_13edit1.shtml