by Reggie Ramos – Executive Director, Transportation for Massachusetts
It’s nearly quitting time, and then the dread starts to set in. Traffic jams. Gridlock. Delays. Soon you’ll be sitting in hours of traffic just to get home at the end of a long, hard day.
The latest INRIX Traffic Scorecard ranks Boston as the fourth-most congested city in the United States and the eighth-most congested city in the world. All this traffic is more than an inconvenience, it’s an expense. In a world where time is money, that lost time adds up: Last year, Boston drivers languished in traffic for 88 frustrating hours, costing drivers $1,543 in lost time and productivity, and hurting the city’s economy to the tune of $2.9 billion.
Apart from confirming the misery we already endure, what does this scorecard mean, and how do we get out of this jam? First, let’s look at how we got here. Beginning in the 1950s, white families with higher incomes and education levels began leaving urban areas and relocating to the suburbs.
At the same time, the interstate highway system began to take shape, and it was often at the expense of communities of color.
Following the Federal Highway Act of 1965, planners started routing highways directly, and in many cases intentionally, through the heart of black communities. Churches, family homes, and schools were systematically bulldozed, and the communities that remained were left to languish, deprived of investment, while the more affluent, white suburbs continued to benefit from favorable transportation policy.
Fast forward to today, and Boston’s traffic congestion challenges reveal that this deep inequity is still alive and well.
Fewer Black and Latino households have access to vehicles than their white counterparts do, making them more reliant on public transit. But the impacts of historic disinvestment across the MBTA have been well documented. Federal funding, for instance, has traditionally been split between highways and public transit 80-20, with highways getting the lion’s share. As a result, cities such as Boston are left in the lurch. The MBTA’s yearlong trackwork and diversions, not to mention derailments, fires and blackouts, are stark reminders of how badly our public transit has been neglected. A recent MassINC poll bears this out, with nearly 40% of Massachusetts residents saying that the public transit in their community isn’t good enough to rely on.
The lack of reliable public transit pushes more Bay Staters to cars, and that makes traffic and gridlock even worse. The tricky thing about road congestion alleviation and improving public transit is that they need to move in tandem. If lawmakers fail to ensure that public transit is funded, we’ll never have a lasting solution for road congestion.
Like any public service (such as education or public utilities), public transportation needs steady and reliable funding. One-time money infusions won’t cut it and won’t give us systems that are equitable and serve everyone.
Some cities around the world with comparable levels of congestion have implemented congestion pricing with much success. London saw roughly a 40% decrease in congestion upon implementation, and Singapore saw a dramatic drop in vehicle miles traveled, with people opting instead to utilize public transit.
Congestion pricing can be one of the more responsive options for our state’s congestion woes, offering both traffic alleviation and, potentially, a new revenue for public transit. And according to MassINC’s recent polling, Massachusetts voters agree, with 50% saying it’s worthy of study.
As Massachusetts lawmakers consider sustainable and consistent revenue sources, they also need to be thoughtful about where and how funds are being spent. Continuing to favor highways won’t alter our course. To avoid a dead-end, they need to get serious about funding public transit, rethink the state’s approach to road use, and design policies that will guarantee a sustainable and just transportation system for years to come.
Reggie Ramos is the executive director of Transportation for Massachusetts.