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The Eagle Flies on Friday: The “Friday Effect”

The Eagle Flies on Friday: The “Friday Effect”. Keys to Unlocking Gridlock in Northern Virginia Presented by: John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic. Gridlock Defined. A traffic jam in which no vehicular movement is possible especially when key intersections within a city grid are blocked.

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The Eagle Flies on Friday: The “Friday Effect”

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  1. The Eagle Flies on Friday: The “Friday Effect” Keys to Unlocking Gridlock in Northern Virginia Presented by: John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic

  2. Gridlock Defined • A traffic jam in which no vehicular movement is possible • especially when key intersections within a city grid are blocked

  3. Origin of Gridlock • First appeared in traffic lingo during NYC transit strike in 1980 • Coined by traffic engineer “Gridlock Sam” Schwartz who borrowed it from his colleague Roy Cottam • Cottam feared traffic would “lock-up” if certain streets were closed

  4. How Bad is Area Gridlock? • Texas Transportation Institute ranked DC metro second to LA (2009) • INRIX ranked DC fourth worst in nation (2009) • Travel times in DC increase while travel times nationwide decline to low point during the recession a soaring gas prices • Transportation Planning Board showed 3% decrease in gridlock (2008)

  5. Average Daily Commute • DC: 30.1 minutes • MD: 31.1 minutes • VA: 26.8 minutes Commute In Minutes

  6. By the Numbers • 1.7 million workers drive alone each day • Average motorists loses 62 hours a year stuck in traffic • Rush hour costs motorists $1,207 a year

  7. Tale of the Tape in NOVA • Nearly 300K trips occur on I-95 South daily. • NOVA houses most heavily traveled corridors • I-95/I-395 and I-495 (carry between 200K – 300K vehicles per day). • Longest delay: the evening rush hour on I-495 Inner Loop (VA 7 to I-270 Spur).

  8. 12,300 lane miles of roadway (9.8% of state total 46.3 million daily vehicle miles of travel (21% of state total) 1.7 of 7.5 million state registered vehicles (23.4% of state total) 27% of state population 29% of state workforce 75% of state transit riders Area Demographics

  9. Snow TKO Courtesy: farm5.static.flickr.com Courtesy: blog.masslive.com • Dumped 3 trillion lbs of snow on DC metro area • Caused limited to no visibility and extremely dangerous driving conditions • Stopped transportation including airports, area highways, Amtrak and Metro • Shut down federal government offices (with a price tag of $100 million/day – a half billion dollars over 5 days) • Created chokepoints when government reopened

  10. The Eagle Flies on Friday 'They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as badThey call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as badWednesday's worse, and Thursday's also sad.Yes the eagle flies on Friday, and Saturday I go out to playEagle flies on Friday, and Saturday I go out to playSunday I go to church, then I kneel down and pray.’

  11. The “Friday Effect” • Workers anticipate this last day of the week as it is often payday • Most burn a lot of their paychecks on gas while stuck in Friday evening traffic • 5-6 PM is the busiest evening peak hour on Friday nationwide • 60 minute commutes are ten or more minutes longer because of the gridlock

  12. Travel times on Friday 2.43-4.42% lower during AM peak hour than other work days Findings support “Friday Effect” that traffic is lighter on Friday compared to other week days AM peak hour traffic is 1.6% lighter on Friday than other work days GMU Trip Reduction Study

  13. Allow eligible employees to telework Saves workers 602 million miles of travel and $807 million in commuting costs Each teleworker in VA could receive an $1800 annual raise Employees gain 46 hours back per year by teleworking one a week Keys to Unlocking Gridlock

  14. Impact of Telecommuting • Shorter travel times on Friday • “Flextime” and telecommuting are key factors • Less miles traveled and annual raises • Employees more productive • Saved federal government $30 million/day during back-to-back snow storms

  15. VA Congressman Gerry Connolly, Jim Moran, Rob Wittman and Frank Wolf support teleworking Backed H.R. 1722 – The Telework Improvements Act of 2010 when introduced by MD Congressman John Sarbanes H.R. 1722 would have required a uniform telework policy Killed in a party-line vote Unlikely to be re-addressed since similar legislation died in 2008 Political Champions of Gridlock

  16. Reduces gridlock Reduces aggressive driving and road rage Lessens air pollution Improves employee moral Enhances quality of life Takes cars off road Eliminates commuting and gas costs Empowers workers Telecommuting Works

  17. AAA Goes Green with Telecommuting • Hiring telecommuters as call-takers, counselors and remote call center agents • Eliminates 140 tons of carbon emissions per year

  18. THANK YOU!

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