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Study: Traffic here better than in most big cities

For motorists stuck in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway or I-95, it may be of little comfort, but highway congestion in the Philadelphia region isn't as bad as it is in many other urban areas.

Backups are common on the Schuylkill, seen here westbound near the zoo, but other cities have it worse. (TOM GRALISH/Staff Photographer)
Backups are common on the Schuylkill, seen here westbound near the zoo, but other cities have it worse. (TOM GRALISH/Staff Photographer)Read more

For motorists stuck in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway or I-95, it may be of little comfort, but highway congestion in the Philadelphia region isn't as bad as it is in many other urban areas.

The latest data in an annual "urban mobility scorecard," compiled by national researchers, shows that the Philadelphia metro area ranks 22d in yearly delay per commuter, 25th in slow-moving rush-hour traffic, 26th in congestion cost per commuter, and 18th in excess fuel used because of congestion.

Philadelphia, the fifth-most-populous metro area, ranks lower in congestion measures than such major cities as Washington, Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, and Phoenix, and even smaller metro areas such as San Jose, Calif.; Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Denver; and Oklahoma City.

A commuter wastes 48 hours a year because of congestion in the Philadelphia area, compared with the big-city average of 63 hours, and 82 hours in Washington or 80 hours in Los Angeles.

The study found that, nationwide, an improving economy has meant worsening congestion.

Traffic congestion dropped during the recession that started in 2008, but has returned to prerecession levels, the report said. Philadelphia's congestion delays have remained essentially unchanged for the last decade, said David Schrank, research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and a coauthor of the report.

"Other economies have been growing faster than the Philadelphia area, thus congestion," he said.

Chris Puchalsky, deputy director for transportation planning at the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, agreed that the Philadelphia region's highway congestion "is at the low end of the scale among big urban areas," but was unimpressed with the study's analysis.

He faulted the report for its narrow focus on highway congestion. More important measures, he said, would be such things as travel time, safety, accessibility to jobs and services, and use of public transit.

"They only looked at mobility by car. . . . It would be helpful to measure how our overall transportation system is doing," he said.

The study was produced by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and INRIX Inc., a traffic technology company in Kirkland, Wash.

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