The region’s Council of Governments plans to announce a pilot program today that will help local governments connect land-use planning and transportation to help deal with the growing problem of congestion, said officials.
The group will also discuss new transportation projects, such as High Occupancy Tolls lanes from Arlington to Spotsylvania County, widening Route 201 in Prince George’s County and creating a cross-county route in Charles County.
COG, an organization of 19 local governments, will unveil the six-year, $250,000 program modeled after successful programs in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta, before the region’s Transportation Planning Board meeting today, said Ron Kirby, COG’s transportation director.
“What is happening in the Washington area is part of a national pattern. We are not the only ones experiencing this general trend of higher vehicle miles traveled and outstripping the infrastructure,” Kirby said.
The board will discuss national trends in transportation funding, such as charging tolls, to make up for limited availability of federal and state funds, he said.
A study released Monday by the Transportation Research Board said on a national level, more people are leaving for work between 5 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. and are commuting between 60 and 90 minutes away from their homes.
The report also found that the number of drivers who drive alone to work rose by 13 million in the 1990s and that new immigrants make up 40 percent of those in carpools.
“Virginia leads the country for the number of people who leave their home county to work in some other county. Maryland is right behind it,” said Alan Pisarski, the author of the series, “Commuting in America III.”
“The current generation has been living off the infrastructure and transportation facilities that were the products of a previous generation. … It is not clear what we are giving to the next generation. It looks like we are giving them a lot of congestion,” Pisarski said.
Pisarski said asthe baby boomer generation retires, employers will have a hard time finding workers to fill the jobs, leading to more long distance commutes.
Employers will have to be more flexible and allow their employees to work from homes and set different hours to avoid congestion, he said. There are 3.3 million vehicles registered in the metropolitan area, according to John Townsend, a AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman.
Some 1.7 million drive alone to the work, compared to the 1.1 million rail and bus commuters, he said.
