Commuters in the Capital Region spend more time getting to work than many other people across the country, and nearly all of them are driving alone.
Gridlock in Baton Rouge has been a regular criticism among the region’s residents and visitors to the city. A nationwide congestion analysis by The Associated Press shows the grousing about traffic is warranted.
Census data from 2013 shows the average travel time to work for the Baton Rouge metro area commute is higher than the national average, but other regions in the state fall close to or even a bit lower than the national figure. Of the 195 major metropolitan areas analyzed, four were in Louisiana, covering the Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans and Shreveport-Bossier City regions.
The more than 369,000 commuters in the Baton Rouge area spent about 26.9 minutes on their way to work, according to the most recent census data, while the typical travel time nationally was 25.8 minutes. In the New Orleans and Lafayette regions, trips to work were largely in line with the national median, at 26 and 25.4 minutes, respectively. Commuters in the Shreveport-Bossier City area had the shortest trip to work in the state’s metro areas, with a mean travel time of 21.3 minutes.
The figures show an apparent aversion to carpooling is part of the traffic problem here. Nearly 85% of Baton Rouge area commuters drive only themselves to work, while just 9% carpool. And only 1% of commuters in the region use public transit to get to work.
U.S. officials warn that congestion will worsen in the next three decades as the nation’s population rises. And while interstate expansions have helped improve Louisiana’s traffic flow, the state has a $12 billion backlog of transportation projects and highway needs and not enough financing on the horizon to make a large dent in the list.
Efforts to boost roadwork funding by billions failed to win support in the just-ended legislative session, in favor of more modest financing maneuvers that will only slightly chip away at the lengthy list of needs.
