Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

St. Louis “Beat Congestion” and Now Commute Times Are Longer

11:09 AM EST on February 2, 2016

Image: NextSTL
Image: NextSTL
false

St. Louis is every highway planner's dream. Consistently ranked among the least-congested cities in America, the region's car commuters spend a smaller share of their trips to work sitting in traffic than all but two other cities.

That means St. Louis car commuters aren't encumbered much by other car commuters, just like in those car commercials.

But that doesn't mean people in St. Louis are spending less time in their cars. Alex Ihnen at NextSTL points out that the region's commuters are behind the wheel as much as ever, because they're driving longer distances:

As congestion has declined in St. Louis, commute times grew.

Peak hour commuters spent an average of 289 hours behind the wheel in 2009, 36 hours more than in 1999 when congestion was significantly worse. The reason for longer commutes, even if that time is spent moving faster? Between 1950 and 2000, St. Louis’s urban population grew 48% while urban (developed) land area grew by more than 260%. Sprawl has meant longer transit trips as well. In 2008, MetroLink riders travelled an average of 7.3 miles per trip, 6th most in the country amongst light rail and metro rail transit systems (APTA).

At its worst, accidents, flooding, (a little rain, the sun in driver’s eyes, a hill) etc., can slow traffic to a crawl. More than a century ago, the horse car, the city’s first public transit vehicle, could average six miles an hour. An hour commute from downtown Kirkwood to downtown St. Louis would be an average of about 15 MPH. Today, the rush hour commute can often be about 40 minutes, or roughly 23 MPH.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Comeback City says Baltimore's problem isn't a bad economy, it's sprawl. And Mobilizing the Region reports that Amtrak has a timeline and budget estimate for the Gateway project to improve rail access between New Jersey and Manhattan: 15 years and $24 billion.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Why We Care About Some Transportation Tragedies More Than Others

Why do we respond to major transportation disasters with so much urgency — and why don't we count our collective car crash epidemic among them?

March 28, 2024

The Toll of History: MTA Board Approves $15 Congestion Pricing Fee

New York City's first-in-the-nation congestion pricing tolls are one historic step closer to reality after Wednesday's 11-1 MTA board vote. Next step: all those pesky lawsuits.

March 28, 2024

Take Thursday’s Headlines Home, Country Roads

Heat Map reports on why rural Americans are resisting electric vehicles, and why it might not matter much for the climate.

March 28, 2024

Guest Commentary: Traffic Engineers Must Put Safety Over Driver Throughput

No other field would tolerate this level of death and destruction. The tragedy of West Portal is more evidence that the traffic engineering profession is fundamentally broken.

March 27, 2024
See all posts