0 With Boston’s Economic Growth comes… Traffic

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Wil Catlin

Image Credit: Wbur

Traffic in major cities like Boston is nothing new. Traffic for me had necessitated leaving my house in Metro West by 5:45 AM to ensure my inbound commute doesn’t take more than 25 – 35 minutes.

According to a report on wburg.org, “Greater Boston is the sixth-most-gridlock-plagued urban area in the country, and it’s costing you a lot of time and money…The average driver in the region spends 64 hours a year — a workweek-and-a-half — stuck in traffic. That’s twice what it was in Boston just 30 years ago, adding about $1,400 a year to the average commuter’s costs.”

The full article is available on WBUR.org.

0 Waze will Alert Drivers to the most dangerous intersections in Boston

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Credit: BBJ

Should your travels to the office take you or your clients through dangerous intersections, turn to Waze to help you in Boston and 4 other cities.

According to the BBJ, “Waze said the app will alert drivers about intersections with a high-collision rates, high-injury rates, vehicle-to-vehicle incidents, vehicle to bike incident and vehicle-pedestrian incidents…Waze will then overlay its crowdsourced incident reports to calculate the intersections or stretches of road that have the highest comparative risk of incidents and injury to drivers and passengers.”

You can read the full article on the Boston Business Journal website.

0 What Does the Commute Cost Boston Drivers?

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Wil Catlin

Do you pick you job based on where you live or do you pick where you live based on your job?

According to estimates from the Boston Globe, “Boston-area drivers spent an extra 64 hours in the car due to traffic in 2014, a new study found. During that time, they burned an extra 30 gallons of gas and also lost time they could have been productive. It added up to an estimated $1,388 lost per driver…Boston ranked as the sixth worst major metropolitan area for traffic congestion.”

Credit: Boston Globe

You can read the full article on the Boston Globe.

0 Boston Traffic Got Much Worse in 2013

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Is your commute better or worse than it was 2 years ago? According to http://www.inrix.com/ Boston leads the charge with the greatest increase. That combined with the increase purchase order of tractor trailers says that this is a trend that will continue well into the future.

An article on the BBJ, citing traffic data from INRIX, quantifies just how bad Boston’s traffic was in 2013:

“[The Boston metro area’s] congestion index rose 22 percent, the most of any region in the top 10 and the 8th biggest increase of all 100 metro areas. Boston drivers now waste 38 hours a year in traffic, on average. INRIX counts any time spent driving at less than half a roadway’s typical speed as wasted time. Of course, you’ll end up wasting a lot more if you drive on the Southeast Expressway, Boston’s most congested highway based on INRIX’s calculations: A 10-minute drive can turn into 35-minute drive at morning rush hour. (That said, there are plenty of drivers who would tell you they’d be relieved to get through the Expressway in 35 minutes at rush hour.)”

The full article is available on the Boston Business Journal: Boston’s traffic jams.

0 Boston Ranks 9 for Worst Traffic in US

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: Boston Business Journal

Has Boston really climbed to the top 10, for worst traffic? Well, I would say we are doing something right by creating more jobs for those drivers to go to. By no sense am I a fan of traffic, but I am a fan of our collective workforce growing our local economy.

A BBJ report notes that Boston has climbed from 21 up to number 9, on a list of the worst traffic cities in the U.S.

The full articles is available on the Boston Business Journal’s website.

0 Seaport Traffic Signs Attempt to Minimize Gridlock

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Credit: The Boston Globe

What is the quickest way home from the office via car? As we all know, this can change based on the day or time of day. Well, there’s an app for that, kind of. The city will be trying out LED signs that are updated remotely with real-time data. The longer-term goal is to make this available online as well.

My plan would be to integrate Google Traffic on a street by street basis and make that available on the LED signs.

The Boston Globe reported “the LED boards will be posted at the exits of high-volume parking garages, providing drivers with real-time driving estimates to help them make more educated decisions — and to help them get the heck out of Dodge as quickly as possible. Three of the signs are set to appear next month.”

Additional details are available on the Boston Globe’s website: Signs to Ease Way out of Seaport

0 Seaport Traffic Growing

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Wil Catlin

Summer Street office building in Boston's seaport district

321 Summer Street

This is a citywide problem that is not just plaguing the Seaport. As we know, Boston is an old city with both old and new infrastructure. The solution is changing the habits of our commuting population, do we need our car at work every day? Perhaps the city and or employers can offer incentives to keep our cars at home? In London, there is a toll to enter the city during rush hour and as a result that reduces the number of passenger vehicles on the roadways.

The Boston Globe recently looked at how the growth of the Seaport submarket is playing out on the roadways:

“While the morning commute is tolerable, everyone seems to head out at 5 p.m., creating bumper-to-bumper traffic along the main spine on Seaport Boulevard, spilling out onto Atlantic Avenue, and clogging side roads throughout the area…’All this growth wasn’t supposed to happen until 2025,’ said Mayor Thomas Menino. ‘It’s a wonderful success. Because of the success, we’re having a problem. It’s amazing to me.’”

The complete article is available on the Boston Globe’s website: Seaport District Faces Gridlock