Not So Fast: A Study of Traffic Delays, Access, and Economic Activity in the San Francisco Bay Area

The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) ranked the Bay Area third only to Washington D.C. and Los Angeles in the time drivers spend stuck in traffic. Such rankings are widely viewed as badges of shame, tagging places as unpleasant, economically inefficient, even dystopian. Indeed, the economic costs of chronic traffic congestion are widely accepted; the TTI estimated that traffic congestion cost the Bay Area economy by some measures the nation's most vibrant regional economy - a staggering $3.1 billion in 2014. Such estimates are widely accepted by public officials and the media and are frequently used to justify major new transportation infrastructure investments. They are based on the premise that moving slowly than free-flow speeds wastes time and fuel, and that these time and fuel costs multiplied over millions of travelers in large urban areas add up to billions of dollars in congestion costs. But while few like driving in heavy traffic, do such measures really capture how congestion and the conditions that give rise to it affect regional economies? This study explores this question for San Francisco Bay Area by examining how traffic congestion is (i) related to a broader and more conceptually powerful concept of access and (ii) how it affects key industries, which are critical to the performance of the region"s economy. It is a companion to a similar analysis of Metropolitan Los Angeles completed in 2015, and includes comparative findings with the results of that study.

• Record URL:
  https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innovation-system-information/documents/final-reports/ca16-2798-finalreport.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://merritt.cdlib.org/api/presign-file/ark%253A%252F13030%252Fm5xq2c09/2/producer%252Fca16-2798-finalreport.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/54769
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1138992509
• Corporate Authors:

  University of California, Los Angeles

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  3250 Public Affairs Building
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90095-1656

  California Department of Transportation

  Division of Research and Innovation and System Information
  P.O. Box 942873, MS 83
  Sacramento, CA  United States  94273-0001
• Authors:
  • Taylor, Brian
  • Osman, Taner
  • Thomas, Trevor
  • Mondschein, Andrew
• Publication Date: 2016-3-31

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 119p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Commuting; Economic development; Mobility; Residential areas; Traffic congestion; Traffic speed; Travel time; Workplaces
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco Bay Area
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01732484
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Report/Paper Numbers: CA16-2798
• Contract Numbers: 65A0529
• Files: CALTRANS, BTRIS, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Feb 28 2020 5:10PM