Hi Spot,
According to the Oakland Tribune
(http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1002,1865%257E526149,00.html)
The traffic situation in the Bay Area has in fact improved overall. The author
mentions a decrease in the workforce in Silicon Valley and San Francisco due to
the dot-com downturn as contributing to the traffic decrease. Also, he
mentions Department of Transportation initiatives that have encouraged
carpooling and cracked down on the number of dangerous trucks, therefore
decreasing the number of accidents as factors influencing the decrease in
traffic.
Below are some relevant statistics taken from the above article (all statistics
compare the years 2000 and 2001 unless otherwise stated):
“Toll bridge receipts show that the number of cars on the bridges didn't change
much -- up half of one percent (…) but the number of trucks has dropped 71/2
percent.”
“The most recent crash data reflect that there were fewer truck crashes from
January through September last year than the same period for the previous two
years. Crashes cause half of the Bay Area's congestion and trucks are often
involved.”
“ I-80 through Berkeley and Emeryville (…) saw a 26 percent drop in truck
wrecks.
“70 percent of the people who crossed the Bay Bridge last year did so in a
carpool lane, a 4 percent jump in one year”
“The Bayshore Freeway, U.S. 101 through San Mateo County, saw a 14 percent drop
in truck wrecks, which transportation experts attribute almost exclusively to
the evaporation of Silicon Valley and San Francisco e-business.”
“In Hayward, the toll plaza of the San Mateo Bridge saw 4 percent less traffic.
What has for years been one of the worst commutes in the Bay Area got a little
easier because of the slowing economy and FasTrak.”
“On the Nimitz Freeway, I-880, truck wrecks dipped just 3 percent.”
“The Dumbarton, San Mateo and Bay bridges saw an overall 2 percent drop in
traffic. But the northern spans, the San Rafael, Carquinez, Benicia and Antioch
bridges saw a 2 percent uptick.”
“Freeways such as I-680 and I-205 that serve growing suburbs in Contra Costa
and San Joaquin counties saw increases in truck crashes.”
Other useful URLs:
The California Energy Commission’s transportation links
http://www.energy.ca.gov/links/transportation.html
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics
http://www.bts.gov/
Search terms used:
california statistics transportation car OR auto OR automobile "san francisco" |
