The saying goes that if you want fewer cars and traffic jams on the roads, all you need is a recession.
The traffic congestion throughout metropolitan Boston is the obvious result of our strong economy, growing population, the concentrated location of job centers and the transportation options we make available to commuters. Yet there is a balance between a reasonable amount of highway traffic and delays that are a serious problem for both workers, businesses and the public sector.
It is fair to question if we have already grown beyond the capacity of our roads and highways and when we look to the future and consider traffic levels after accounting for expected population, development and job growth, it is a major concern. Massachusetts needs to begin a serious discussion on how we manage vehicular traffic in both the short and long-term future, as well as the relationship between commuting by car and viable mass transit alternatives. If we ignore this challenge, the entire region is sure to suffer.
Congestion on the roads in Massachusetts is a growing risk to both our economy and quality of life. We know through traffic data – and through many personal experiences – that vehicular traffic is getting worse. The transportation research firm INRIX now ranks Boston as the seventh worst place for overall traffic in North America. They also calculated that Boston drivers spend 14 percent of their driving time stuck in congestion, which is the highest percentage in the United States. The high cost of housing in the region another factor that contributes to longer commuting times, as affordable housing options are located further away from job centers and public transit options. All of these trends signal it is time for some new actions and strategies.
In Consideration of Fresh Ideas
Unfortunately, Gov. Charlie Baker recently rejected a legislative plan to evaluate the effect of lower toll rates for drivers who travel during off-peak commuting times. By not studying price sensitivity of toll roads, we are missing the opportunity to test an innovative idea that could help inform the commonwealth’s future approach towards addressing congestion.
The “smart tolling” plan was designed to offer direct discounts for residents who choose to drive at different times of the day. If we see that discounted toll rates encourage some drivers to travel at new times, it would mean every driver in the test region would benefit by this experiment – even those who ignore the opportunity to pay less. This approach is an idea worth exploring through a temporary pilot.
The investment in the commonwealth’s all-electronic tolling system makes it possible for Massachusetts to conduct this kind of incentive system for drivers. For the past year, every roadway dollar collected on the Turnpike, Tobin Bridge and Boston Harbor Tunnels is done via electronic payment and transponders. By eliminating the physical toll booths, our roads are already seeing less congestion in areas when drivers pay tolls. It also costs less for the commonwealth to collect these roadway user fees. The new, state-of-the-art toll gantries are able to account for different toll rates for vehicles traveling at different times of the day, so the infrastructure is already available to test something new.
There is also significant support for this Smart Tolling pilot program and approach. In addition to endorsements by The Boston Globe, the national automotive group AAA and the Pioneer Institute, the smart tolling proposal was sponsored with bipartisan support in the Legislature and passed with an overwhelming margin. The tolling language explicitly required that it would “not result in a toll rate increase on any road or driver,” so this idea is not an attempt to raise revenue for our transportation system or add an additional cost to drivers.
An evolution in how we use our roads is essential to meet the challenges of our modern economy and reality of our current transportation system. This includes consideration of bold ideas such as some congestion pricing; dedicated lanes for Bus-Rapid-Transit service; appropriate restrictions, limits and additional surcharges on services like Uber and Lyft; and improved management, increased capacity and revenue for our public transportation system, particularly to deliver an affordable and reliable alternative to driving into Boston’s central business district and region’s inner core. We should start testing these ideas and others in order to evaluate their impact and benefits to the region.
Metropolitan Boston will never build enough roads and parking spaces to solve our traffic problem. We don’t have the funding or the physical space to do that. Therefore we need to be ambitious in thinking of new ideas that can reform our approach to roadways and drivers. Studies show that variable-rate pricing of tolls can create a more efficient transportation network for everyone in a region, and this could be a national model for the next generation of road and highway management.
Alternatively, we avoid testing out the ideas of toll discounts and congestion pricing, and just hope traffic gets better on its own. However, we already all know there is a cost of doing nothing and traffic congestion is likely to get worse. We need a new plan and philosophy, combined with real action, as it should be obvious that we cannot afford any additional delays.
Rick Dimino is president and CEO of A Better City.
