Rush Hour Traffic Here as Bad as Ever, Report Says

Rush hour traffic on Fairfield County's highways is as slow as it was in 2007, and that can be pretty slow in a number of spots on Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 7, according to a regional planning report.

On one segment of I-95, morning rush-hour traffic was typically as slow as 31 mph in 2007. Today: 33 mph. Other highway segments studied in the report showed similar bad results. And that's despite a less vibrant economy, with it's high unemployment that should make the roads less crowded, as an article in The Advocate of Stamford points out.

The study, called the "2011 South Western Region Travel Time Monitoring Program", was done by the South West Regional Planning Agency, SWRPA, a regional association of the cities and towns including Norwalk, Greenwich,Westport, Weston, Wilton and all the municipalities in between.

The study was done on the Merritt Parkway, U.S. Route 7 and Interstate 95 in various segments across Fairfield County and compiled data on actual motor vehicle speeds along those segments, according to The Advocate.

SWRPA's full report can be found online. A SWRPA Web page with links to that report and past reports is also online.

The area near the intersection of U.S. Route 7 and Interstate 95 was one of the worst areas in the county, with rush-hour speeds of less than 20 mph. The Merritt Parkway near Route 7 was also one of the worst spots.  Most of Interstate 95 in Norwalk and the southern end of Super 7 (the highway portion of Route 7) had 20 to 20 mph speeds during rush hour, according to the report's executive summary.

"Although it is difficult to compare data from different years due to a lack of sufficient sample size and changes to the study area, it appears that peak period travel times have remained relatively constant for the last four years," the executive summary said.

Here's an excerpt from the executive summary:

"As a basis for comparison, traffic count data on I-95 in Norwalk, measured at a continuous count station near exit 14 at the Scribner Avenue underpass, is aggregated for the morning peak (7 a.m. to 9 a.m.) and evening peak (4 p.m. to 7 p.m.), in the peak direction.

"Data were analyzed for Tuesday through Thursday during the second full week in May, which reflects the days chosen to conduct the Time Travel Monitoring trips."

"These data show an increase in traffic count of approximately 7 percent between 2007 and 2011. Therefore, it does not appear that fuel price changes or the slow economy have led to a decline in peak period travel over the last four years.

"However, average annual daily traffic on I-95, which represents the average daily traffic count over an entire year, declined approximately 5 percent between 2007 and 2011. This seems to indicate that non-peak period trips, which tend to be more discretionary, have been impacted by fuel price changes or the slow economy."