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Chapter Three
A Better Approach

The case studies in this report suggest that delays caused by road construction can significantly offset the congestion-easing benefits of adding road capacity, especially for current road users. Yet transportation officials rarely take these delays into consideration. Little research is being done to systematically find ways to reduce these delays.²³ For this study, state DOT officials could provide little information or documentation about the extent of travel delays experienced by motorists during construction. This indicates the low priority construction delays are given. We believe this study shows that construction-related delays should be taken seriously and that more creative solutions to road construction should be explored.

STPP offers the following recommendations:

1. Transportation officials should tell citizens how road building plans will affect their commutes.

As this report shows, construction delay and induced travel may dramatically reduce how effectively these projects relieve congestion and improve driving for motorists who use the road every day. The impact of road building should be shared with the public when a road project is under consideration. Decision-makers need to understand the whole picture when they are asked to approve road projects, and citizens deserve to know how construction will affect them as road users.

2. Investments in road expansion projects should not be made until transportation officials take into account the effect of construction delays and induced travel.

The case studies in this report suggest that transportation officials should take construction-related delays into account when they consider the costs and benefits of expanding highway capacity to reduce congestion. In addition, officials should factor in expected levels of induced travel to accurately determine how quickly the roadway will become congested again. Delay costs and new travelers may indicate that other measures are necessary to relieve congestion for current and new drivers. By leaving out construction delays and induced travel, state and local transportation planners present an unduly optimistic picture of the benefits of road building.

3. Transportation officials should put a high priority on reducing delays caused by road construction.

When road expansion and construction projects are necessary, officials should do everything they can to reduce travel delays. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), road builders should implement an overall strategy which allows construction and maintenance operations to be completed safely with a minimum impact on the motorist, the highway worker, and the adjacent residential/business communities. Motorist delay and safety are closely tied together: crashes cause congestion and congestion causes crashes. Consequently, FHWA recommends that officials reduce the volume of traffic through the work zone, the length of time that work zones are in place, and the number of times construction is needed.²⁴

Road builders can take an aggressive approach to minimizing travel delays. Two of the most effective techniques are the use of innovative contracting techniques and the provision of convenient alternative transportation.

Use innovative contracting techniques.
Streamlining the construction process can slash delay times. Salt Lake County has experienced success with its design-build model, which allows design and construction to happen concurrently. The case study shows how reducing construction delays can shorten the time individual motorists have to sit in construction-related delays. Taking a hard look at construction plans in terms of traveler safety and delay can also make a difference: On the Mockingbird Lane Bridge Project in Dallas, a study team was able to cut the number of traffic re-routings and lane closures planned during construction by 33 percent, significantly reducing detours and delays.²⁵ Other jurisdictions have had success with simple contractor incentives, fining contractors for extended delays or rewarding them when a project is completed more quickly.

Provide transportation alternatives.
One of the most powerful ways to reduce congestion during construction is to give drivers alternatives in the form of convenient transit service. This gives people the choice of avoiding the delays altogether. One of the advantages of promoting alternative transportation is that commuters can learn to use transit and other modes, which may encourage less driving, and less congestion, in the future.

For example when the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Cal-Trans undertook to rebuild the Cypress Interchange in the San Francisco Bay Area after damage by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and to add an HOV lane on I-80 in the East Bay, one of the key mitigation actions was to set aside millions of dollars to allow the transit operator to run additional buses to accommodate commuters who were forced off the road. The bus operators cooperated with BART, the region’s rail service, to ensure that transit supply was improved while road delays were in effect.

These alternative services can also help ease congestion in the long run. Construction work on I-94 in Milwaukee last year eventually convinced Wisconsin DOT to pay for extra trips on a bus service called the "freeway flyer" as well as on express runs on a parallel road in regular local service, and on Wisconsin Coach Line, a private bus service. After the construction was over, ridership remained high enough that much of the extra transit service continued.

A comprehensive traffic management approach is the most effective way to reduce travel delays due to construction. Following the Northridge Earthquake in Los Angeles, and the resulting closure of several important freeways, Caltrans improved traffic signal timing on parallel arterial roadways, funded improvements to transit service, and provided financial incentives to contractors to get the freeways up and running ahead of schedule.

4. Transportation officials should find ways to provide congestion relief without inflicting the increased congestion required by construction projects.

Communities wishing to minimize congestion have a wide variety of options beyond expensive road expansion projects. Some regions that have taken a hard look at congestion are tackling the problem in ways that are less expensive, just as effective, and help drivers right now. Here we list just a few of the many possibilities:

Minimizing the effect of accidents and other road incidents.
While many people blame congestion on a lack of road space, much of it is caused by traffic accidents. By some calculations about half of all traffic tie-ups are caused by "non-recurring events" such as accidents.²⁶ "Incident management" techniques, including roving tow-trucks, constant video surveillance, and real-time traveler information, have proven popular and effective in many areas. For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Area Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) offers the driving public a special team of 50 tow trucks that patrol more than 217 miles of the area’s congested freeways during the morning and evening commutes. These services are free to the public and offer help such as jump-starting a dead battery, refilling a radiator, fixing tires, and providing fuel. A federal study indicates that this project is responsible for an 80 percent reduction in time spent in incident-related traffic jams.²⁷

Supporting transportation options.
Other regions are seeking to reduce peak-period congestion by giving drivers other travel options. Frequent and convenient light rail, subway, and commuter rail service can help people avoid the daily drive. Dedicated bus lanes can help bus riders fly past the worst highway bottlenecks. Transit already provides huge congestion-relieving benefits, keeping traffic down in urban areas by as much as 20 percent, and preventing millions of hours of delay.²⁸ Vanpools allow passengers to read or socialize instead of having to concentrate on negotiating clogged roads. Safe bicycle routes allow shorter-distance commuters an alternative to sitting behind the wheel. Flexible work hours allow employees to avoid the worst jams. All of these techniques serve two purposes: they give people the option of avoiding sitting bumper-to-bumper, and they can directly reduce traffic by reducing the number of cars on the road. Such travel demand management (TDM) can clear up congestion at a fraction of the cost of capacity-adding highway projects. In the long term these techniques are effective in combating congestion and improving the quality of life for commuters.

Building communities so people can drive less.
The cause of many of our congestion woes is not simple population or economic growth, but the huge growth in driving itself. Much of this driving can be traced to the sprawling subdivisions, office parks, and strip malls that can only be reached one way: by the automobile. Communities can be constructed to be more convenient to residents and allow more travel choices: children can reach a local store on their bicycles, commuters can pick up a quart of milk near the bus stop. Communities with these characteristics have been shown to generate fewer and shorter vehicle trips.²⁹ The most effective way to address congestion in the long run may be to design our communities so there is less need to drive in the first place.