Let’s talk traffic
Posted by: Krista
Snowbird season is here, and school started weeks ago. This means most commuters have to either add time to their commute or get up and head to work early enough to avoid extra traffic. I usually choose the get up early option, so I need to leave my house by 6am to stick to the shortest commute time (one hour from my house in Casa Grande to my job in North Scottsdale).
Today, I didn’t get out the door until 6:15, which added an extra 15 minutes to my commute. This gave me 15 more minutes to groan about traffic, snowbirds, and families with kids (parents taking their kids to school, out running errands because they got up early to take their kids to school and might as well run to the store since they’re up and out of the house, or heading to work early because they had to take their kids to school on the way to work). So what if I’ll be in the snowbird or families with kids category someday? Right now, I can’t help but complain about them. Believe me when I say that traffic gets a lot worse when school kicks in, and it gets even more horrible when the snowbirds come.
Problems and Solutions
Today’s rush hour got me to thinking about how to reduce traffic. Obviously, the cause of traffic is too many cars per road. Not so obviously, there are a couple of ways to fix this: add more roads or reduce the number of cars per road.
Telecommuting and Compressed Work Weeks
I’m a big fan of incentives. I think you can achieve better results if you make it worthwhile. Telecommuting or working a compressed work week is a win-win-win situation, and this is how it would work:
Businesses win because the State gives them big enough tax incentives to implement telecommuting or compressed work week programs. If they implement telecommuting, they can reduce office size by letting employees share cubicles. If they implement either solution, they can reduce space used for parking since there won’t be as many people in the office on any given day.
People win because they reclaim their time. They spend less time running around in general. Think about it - less time in the car, less time getting ready to go to work, less time running out for a bite to eat at lunch. Sounds pretty good to me!
The State wins because we stop complaining about horrible traffic, it’s less of a strain on resources, the air is cleaner, and people are happier in general.
Toll Roads
When I was running for office last year, someone asked me if I supported toll roads. I hadn’t specifically researched it, so I couldn’t say I was for or against them. Since then, I’ve thought about it a little, and this is what I’ve decided.
I would consider supporting state-owned toll roads. If tolls were dedicated to pay for future maintenance, more roads, public transportation, and bike paths, I would support them. I think it’s fair to have the people who use the roads pay for the roads. People also control whether they pay tolls or not by moderating the frequency with which they use the roads (consolidating errands). However, I don’t think this is the best solution.
Public Transportation
No brainer, right? The only downside I see to public transportation is having to trudge through the beating sun and 110 degree heat to get to the bus stop/train stop.
I’m quite happy we’re putting in the light rail, and I hope it’s a huge success and that they expand the light rail lines across the valley.
Spread Business Around
I love my job. I’d love my job even more if it were headquartered in Casa Grande. That’s not likely to happen any time soon, but I wouldn’t mind if there were more internet companies spread around the state. I’m sure other people feel that way about the types of companies they work for. So far, the only incentive I can think of to make this happen is tax incentives (again).
Well, my lunch hour is over, so I’ll close up and get back to work. These were just a few of the thoughts wandering around my head this morning. Maybe I’ll think of more as i wend my way through traffic on my way home tonight.
What are your brilliant solutions to solving traffic problems?
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Bikes are great too, if you live close enough to work or school. I love riding my bike to/from work in Tucson.
Great transportation, and good exercise.
Toll roads may not be such a great idea. More and wider roads will not relieve traffic. Look at LA: the biggest roads, and the worst traffic.
One neat idea that some other states are trying is home swapping. Someone who lives in Glendale and works in Scottsdale could switch for a comparably valued home with someone in the reverse situation. I don’t how many takers you’d get but we’ve got to figure out how to get people living closer to where they work, whether it means bringing work close to their homes or vice versa.