The Capitol Fax Blog » Question of the day

Monday, Oct 13, 2008

* The setup…

Motorists in the Chicago area are making fewer trips to gas stations, but highways are still severely congested despite a decline of almost 5 percent in miles driven this year.

Congestion in the region is actually worse now than a year ago. Drivers hoping to reach their destinations on schedule need to budget almost double the amount of travel time that the trips should take.

Those are among the findings from a new study by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning.

This year the number of miles driven during the busiest travel hours has fallen steeply in the region, down 4.6 percent compared with last year, Jose Rodriguez, a planning agency researcher, found in his study titled “Recent Trends in Northeastern Illinois Expressway Vehicle Miles Traveled.”

* The question: Are you driving less? If so, explain how you’ve changed your habits. If not, explain why.

- posted by Rich Miller

28 Comments

- western illinois - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:53 am:
I have not but my wife car pools now
I am sceptical of the clain congestion is not down I hear the Chicago traffic reports a travle times are way down Maybe the suburban artrials are still having a lot of congestion?We will know in a year or so when the traffic volume counts come out.

- Plutocrat03 - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:54 am:
No change in mileage driven.

I do try to travel during less congested times.

- Six Degrees of Separation - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:55 am:
We live in a part of the state where there really are no other good options than to drive. We are not that far from town, but the nearest facilities of any kind are 5 miles away. That being said, we try to combine our trips as much as possible - we are almost always getting something from the store on the way home from work. We are maybe driving a little less these days, but it’s little things like not going home for lunch.

- Little Egypt - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:55 am:
A little, but not really. Our driving into “town” trips are less but our weekends are a lot more. Spouse and I have a sweet ride or two that we take to car shows and we have actually broadened our area of shows this year. That has been in lieu of a vacation but I’m pretty sure it has caused us to use more gas overall.

- Six Degrees of Separation - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:57 am:
western IL-

Maybe the increased congestion is from all the traffic circling the commuter stations, trying to find a parking spot.

- bored now - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:59 am:
it’s an election year, so i’m definitely driving more. however, i’m less inclined to drive into chicago unless i have to take things downtown.

i haven’t noticed greater congestion, but then, i’m in the south suburbs, so…

- Pat collins - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 10:59 am:
Actually, on the way I drive to work, traffic is WAY down from say 5 years ago.

I personally can work from home, and do that some days, but not a lot. Maybe 2 days a month.

- Cassandra - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:00 am:
No, but I didn’t drive that much to begin with. I live near the Green Line so I never drive downtown
but I do drive to do errands within my community.
I could stop that and walk (distances of up to a mile) but the savings would be minimal because the distances are so short. I try to bunch errands but
I always did that.

I wonder how many of the people driving those congested highways have a realistic choice. If you live in, say, Glenview and work in Niles, you don’t have much of a choice–carpooling isn’t as easily arranged and implemented as one might think.

- Federal Building Field Trip - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:00 am:
Only drive to work and consolidate errands.

Also, I’m saving my money so that I can drive downtown to see Governor Blagojevich and the Mrs. officially indicted. I’m going to make a day of it….. Maybe dinner too.

- Captain Flume - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:01 am:
Driving less, mainly limiting visits to family who live about 200 miles away. Most years I make 8-10 round trips, this year so far only 2. Plus other longer distance driving has been lessened. Daily around town driving still about the same though.

- Bluefish - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:04 am:
The price of gas has had little impact on my family’s driving habits - you still need to drive to get around in the suburbs. I’m still logging as many miles per week as always.

As for the expressways, traffic has appeared lighter than normal since the summer.

- Disgusted - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:09 am:
I live in the hinterlands and must drive to work, but it’s only 15 minutes on the highway, portal to portal. However, I have slowed way down to 60 mph in the slow lane and I use my cruise control daily. I have a Hyundai Santa Fe and by driving as I do, I can go to work and run errands close to work and then home for two weeks on a tank. And given the price of gas and the nation’s other financial problems, I STILL see people speeding 30 miles over the limit and weaving in and out of traffic like gas was a quarter a gallon. Fools.

- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:13 am:
No need to change. Never drove much to begin with. I made a choice 20 years ago to live where I can take both CTA and Metra rails, my kids can walk to elementary, middle and high schools, and I can run a lot of errands on foot.

- Phil Collins - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:35 am:
I drive less than I did two months ago. I moved from North Chicago to Northfield, to be closer to my girlfriend. Since I got my current job, in downtown Chicago, three years ago, I’ve almost always taken Metra, to go to work, so I don’t drive less, to go to work.

- Wumpus - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:53 am:
No change. I have always been conscious of my driving amounts.

- 47th Ward - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 12:02 pm:
Sold my car in July, and am now a full-time CTA commuter. I’m saving about $300 per month on parking, gas and insurance. More excercise too, which is nice.

- Vote Quimby! - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 12:12 pm:
I put more thought into combining errands now. But I still drive 35 miles, by myself, each way to get to work. So even in my beat-up-looking Ford Focus (which I hated until the gas price spike) I’m still burning 2 gallons of gas a day just to commute. As part of my carbon footprint offset I don’t litter anymore, except in places where I see ‘Adopt-A-Road’ programs…

- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 12:53 pm:
I used to talk CTA Brown line to work until I changed to an earlier schedule. Now I drive, and we haven’t cut down on driving since one of our cars is a Prius (thank goodness we were prescient about that) but we try to not to drive the non-Prius if we can help it.

- Redbright - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 2:06 pm:
I live downtown Chicago but have a car. Historically I would have taken at least one trip to the burbs each week; now I’m doing it less than once a month.

On Saturday I did go to Barrington to an annual event that has taken two hours to reach in past years. This time I was there in less than an hour. Maybe everyone was watching sports on TV. The streets sure seemed emptier.

- chic ster - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 2:17 pm:
Bought a scooter….95 miles to the gallon!

- anon sequitor - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 2:29 pm:
CMAP has a history of studies which seem to contradict common wisdom and experience. Occasionally they get it right, but all too often they make erroneous conclusions from the data. I can’t decide whether their study conclusions are “Made As Instructed” or just out of touch with reality.

- 21st State - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 3:01 pm:
downtown Chicago - walk everywhere and kill full weekend days usually once/month with all the car-related projects/errands like grocery etc; parents in Lake Geneva, WI so now Metra to Harvard to avoid the nightmare traffic both there and back… CTA when weather is bad

- cermak_rd - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 4:12 pm:
I carpool to work with my partner, but then we’ve done that for ages. Given we work less than a mile apart from each other, it doesn’t make sense for both of us to drive 35 miles a day.

I do walk a lot more to the grocers, but then it’s really more for exercise than for gas savings.

- Anonymous - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 4:46 pm:
I drive the Stevenson Expressway every day 20 miles with my spouse from the SW suburbs into the Loop and have noticed a decrease in the number of cars, especially over the summer when the gas prices were really high. We have been driving this route for the past 10 years and noticed the ups and downs over the years.

I haven’t really changed my driving except to combine a few trips.

- Pickles!! - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 5:41 pm:
No, i’m not driving any less. and judging by the amount of traffic, i find stats that say people are driving less to be hogwash. I haven’t noticed less cars on the street. traffic is just as bad as ever, compounded by endless road work on the expressways and tollways.

- The KQ - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 9:37 pm:
Anonymous - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 4:46 pm you see fewer commuters on the Stevenson because they are all with me on 355. I am very thankful for the extension because I travel it from one end to the other every day (I live in Frankfort) it saves about 20 minutes in time and LOTS of frustration, but there are always a lot of people traveling 355. There are no alternatives for me although I did car pool for a while with a coworker. She left for a job in the city and now gets to sleep on the train!

- western illinois - Monday, Oct 13, 08 @ 11:13 pm:
Great Conersation. I like the congestion around the commuter lot(and the issues with prvious data)
I wondered if the housing crisis in the exurbs has has something to do with it IDOTs traffic maps shod huge traffic increases beyond IL 47 (ex Mc Henry County-mayeb its stricter growth rules?)
Then came the prairie parkway proposal and the tollway said it would look at a whole range of suburban routes….and Kendallcounty boomed-that has al been a mystery to me . As a frequent train rider it only has the same AMTARK as Galesburg and mostky 2 lane roads I always thought Grundy made more sense-and now are some of these boom towns gone bust?

- Bookworm - Tuesday, Oct 14, 08 @ 6:58 am:
High gas prices were a major factor in my (and my husband’s) decision to live within 4 blocks of my workplace, even though the rent is a little more expensive than it would be farther away; we figure the savings in gas and car maintenance will make up for it.

I am definitely driving less. For nearly 20 years I held jobs that required lengthy commutes. I used to spend anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours a day on the road; now I spend 15 minutes a day or less driving. It’s great. The only thing I miss sometimes is the countryside.

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