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Driving down
Report: We spend less time behind the wheel
To Ryan Lynch, widening Interstate 84 in Waterbury to relieve traffic congestion is a waste of money.
"It's a little like loosening your belt to fight obesity," he said Thursday.
Lynch is associate director for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a New York-based nonprofit that advocates for transportation projects in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
His belief that widening I-84 through the heart of Waterbury is "misguided, outdated and a waste of limited resources" was included in a news release Thursday about a new report that shows Connecticut residents now drive fewer miles per person than they did in 2005.
The report, "Moving Off the Road: A State-by-State Analysis of the National Decline in Driving," was released by the Connecticut Public Interest Research Group's Education Fund. ConnPIRG, as it is known, is part of U.S. PIRG, a national nonprofit founded by Ralph Nader that advocates on health and public safety issues.
The new report follows one released by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund in the spring, which noted the recent downward trend in driving nationwide.
According to the new report, which relied on data from the Federal Highway Administration and other government sources, Connecticut residents have trimmed their driving miles by 3.45 percent per person since 2005, when the national driving trend peaked. The state's per-capita driving peaked in 2007, and has decreased nearly 5 percent per person since, the report states.
"In Connecticut, driving miles are down, just as they are in almost every state," said Abe Scarr, director of the ConnPIRG Education Fund.
The 31-page report states that, following World War II, the nation's driving miles per person increased steadily almost every year, fueled by the shift to the suburbs, low gas prices and increased automobile ownership. That boom lasted 60 years, but now the average number of miles driven by Americans nationwide is in its eighth consecutive year of decline, the report states.
Phineas Baxandall, senior policy analyst for tax and budget issues for U.S. PIRG and the report's author, said that's in part because the younger generations — those ages 16 to 34 — are driving less, with the average miles driven falling 23 percent between 2001 and 2009. The report also notes that while 87 percent of 19-year-olds had a driver's license in 1983, only 69 percent did in 2011.
"With millennials the largest generation in America, their sharp decline in driving is the strongest indication of a fundamental shift," he said.
The report also found no link between the economy and miles driven.
"The states with the biggest reductions in driving miles generally were not the states hit hardest by the economic downturn," the report states. "The majority — almost three-quarters — of the states where per-person driving miles declined more quickly than the national average actually saw smaller increases in unemployment compared to the rest of the nation."
Based on these findings, ConnPIRG and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign say states need to consider alternatives to making more room for cars and trucks on highways.
"It's time for policymakers to recognize that the driving boom is over," said Scarr, of the ConnPIRG Education Fund. "We need to reconsider expensive highway expansions and focus on alternatives, such as public transportation and biking."
Lynch, a former coordinator for Tri-State Transportation Campaign's Connecticut office, said the Nutmeg State has recently shown some foresight in developing transportation projects, citing as an example the $567 million busway, known as CTfastrak, now under construction between New Britain and Hartford.
"Connecticut's investment in critical transit projects like CTfastrak and the New Haven-Springfield commuter rail line show that transportation decisions better reflect changing travel preferences of residents," Lynch said.
He defended his belief that widening I-84 in Waterbury — where four lanes of traffic into and out of the city shrink to just two lanes, creating a twice-daily traffic nightmare for commuters and truckers — is no solution.
"We should be looking toward methods to get people out of their cars," Lynch said. "The true solution to mitigating congestion is not providing greater capacity, but creating reduced demand."
Rep. Selim G. Noujaim, R-74th District, and a former member of the legislature's Transportation Committee, scoffed at Lynch's comments.
"The biggest waste of federal dollars and taxpayers' money in the state is the busway, which basically will run into deficit every year, as evidenced by the fact the General Assembly has allocated $7.5 million in the budget to cover the deficit for it," Noujaim said.
"I would like to invite (Lynch) to meet me at Exit 23 of I-84 eastbound at 4 p.m. any day of the week, including Sunday," he added. "Traffic jams on I-84 and accidents are happening every day. It's a condition that must be alleviated."
Asked what alternative to widening the highway he would suggest, Lynch said he "is not in a place to say anything about that right now," and that the issue is being studied, but added that he is "supportive of mass transit in general."