BURNIN' FUEL, TIME IN L.A.

Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer

For the 17th straight year, the Los Angeles metropolitan area recorded the worst traffic congestion in the nation with gridlock costing an average of $1,000 per person a year in wasted fuel and time.

The average Los Angeles area driver spends 56 hours a year stopped in traffic, and the region's total bill was estimated at $12.5 billion a year, according to a study released Monday by the Texas Transportation Institute.

The previous year, the report said, L.A. drivers lost an average of 55 hours a year at a cost of $985 a year.

``It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that (L.A.) is going to be at the top every year. It may look like a small change in numbers, but in a huge system like that, it takes a lot to move up that much,'' said David Schrank, the report's co-author.

``I'm not sure what would have to happen before people decide they want to do something about it. It really just comes down to a lifestyle choice and what people are willing to put up with.''

The congestion study, compiled annually by the Texas Transportation Institute - based at Texas A&M University - from data provided by state and federal transportation agencies, ranked the nation's 68 largest urban areas and listed Los Angeles at the top of all congestion categories that include time and money wasted sitting in traffic.

Last year, the study computed the averages based on an estimated number of drivers in each region. This year, the researchers decided to use population figures to come up with more accurate indicators.

Though the group has done the study for 13 years only, it used transportation data from the past 17 years to conclude that Los Angeles is the nation's most congested metropolitan area.

San Francisco drivers, who have to endure the second worst congestion in the nation, face an average annual cost of $760 and 42 extra hours.

Nationwide, the cost of traffic congestion totaled $78 billion, including 4.5 billion hours of extra travel time and 6.8 billion gallons of fuel wasted while sitting in traffic.

The combined morning and evening commute regarded as rush hour in metro areas has doubled in the past 20 years, increasing from three hours in 1982 to almost six hours in 1999.

``Since people keep moving there, Los Angeles obviously has not reached the point where people say 'enough,' '' Schrank said. ``Even with gas prices going up, it would have to reach the level of something like the crisis in the '70s before that had an effect. People are willing to pay a premium for their cars.''

The results of the study come as no surprise to local transportation planning agencies, which in recent months have adopted long-range transit plans to alleviate congestion.

A 25-year, $106 billion plan by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, for instance, calls for expansion of the Metro Rapid Bus system, freeway interchange improvements, a high-speed busway and more car-pool lanes.

The Southern California Association of Governments also has given tentative approval to a $140 billion long-range plan that includes adding toll lanes to local freeways and a rail and bus transit corridor along the Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley.

Transportation policy groups immediately seized on the Texas Transportation Institute study as evidence that more attention should be paid to easing the state's traffic woes.

``California has not done enough to expand or enhance its transportation infrastructure and the cost of that threatens our economy,'' said Larry Fisher, executive director of Transportation California, an advocacy group supported by road construction and labor concerns.

Fisher pointed out that two-thirds of all goods shipped from California sites are transported on trucks. Without new spending on infrastructure, Fisher said, traffic congestion could become as big a threat to the state economy as the power crisis.

``We did a statewide survey about two weeks ago and the thing that surprised me was that traffic congestion was ranked right up with the energy supply as the most critical problem facing California,'' Fisher said.

But other transportation watchdogs criticized some of the conclusions drawn from the report. The Surface Transportation Policy Project, a San Francisco-based think tank, used the same data and stressed other results.

According to the Policy Project, freeway capacity through road building and widening has increased 37 percent since 1982 while population increased 33 percent. At the same time, the number of cars on the road increased 62 percent.

``We are going to grow, but how we grow is critical,'' said James Corless, California director of the Policy Project.

``We need to have a diversified set of solutions. We can't have all new roads or new transit. It has to be a combination of telecommuting, flex time, more express buses and HOV lanes.''

Gloria Ohland, a spokeswoman for the Policy Project, also noted that the study did not take into account the availability of transportation alternatives. Cities such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C., fare much better when their strong public transportation infrastructures are considered, Ohland said.

THE NATION'S MOST CONGESTED AREAS

The following are the 10 most congested areas in the nation, according to a new study by the Texas Transportation Institute, an official research agency of the Texas Department of Transportation. The study computed annual hours lost in traffic congestion and the annual cost per person, among other factors, in determining the rankings.

City

1. Los Angeles

2. SF/Oakland

3. Seattle, Wash.

4. Washington, D.C.

5. San Diego

6. Chicago

7. Boston, Mass.

8. Portland, Ore.

9. Atlanta

10. Las Vegas

CAPTION(S):

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THE NATIONS MOST CONGESTED AREAS

Source: Texas Transportation Institute