Surprisingly, traffic delays in Utah down

Traffic delays in the Salt Lake Valley decreased during the 10-year period from 1995 to 2005 — a sharp contrast to other urban areas across the nation, according to a report released Tuesday.

The 2007 Urban Mobility Report by the Texas Transportation Institute said that Salt Lake motorists spent an annual average of 27 hours in traffic in 2005, or about five hours less than in 1995, when drivers spent an annual average of 32 hours in traffic.

"That's actually a really good sign," said Tim Harpst, director of the Salt Lake City transportation department. "In most major cities, the delay time has increased."

Nationwide, motorists experienced a seven-hour increase in traffic time from 1995 to 2005, the report said. In 1995, the national annual average for time in traffic was 31 hours. In 2005, the number increased to 38 hours spent annually in traffic.

"Things are bad, and they're getting worse," Alan Pisarski, an author and transportation expert, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We've used up the capacity that had been bequeathed to us by a previous generation, and we haven't replaced it."

Robyn Player, a West Valley resident who commutes to Salt Lake City each work day, said she leaves for work about 8 a.m. and heads home shortly after 5 p.m.

Her commute time in recent years "has somewhat decreased," she said. "But it depends where it is you're headed to and coming from, whether it's decreased."

Utah transportation officials said they were a little surprised by the report, but several steps have been taken in recent years to cut congestion. Those include reconstruction of I-15 through Salt Lake County, where lanes were added and pavement and bridges improved.

During the construction, ramp meters were also added to the highway. The meters control traffic flows by telling motorists when they can enter the freeway from an onramp.

David Kinnecom, who manages the Utah Department of Transportation's Traffic Operations Center, said Tuesday that UDOT has also put more than 800 traffic signals across the state under computer control. That way, if traffic is unusually heavy in one direction, the agency can change signal timing to allow more traffic to move, he said.

Tim Harpst, director of Salt Lake City's transportation department, said the report is a "good sign" that the state has found ways to alleviate congestion. He said the construction of the TRAX light-rail system has also improved traffic.

But in cities such as Los Angeles — which had the worst traffic congestion in the nation, according to the report — transit and technology haven't eased the problem. LA. drivers experienced 72 hours of delay in 2005, the report said.

"The problem has grown too rapidly and is too complex for only one technology or service to be 'the solution' in most regions," the report said.

To view a copy of the report, log on to www.tti.tamu.edu.

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Contributing: Associated Press

E-mail: nwarburton@desnews.com