Ep. 15 – Traffic in the Triangle

How bad is traffic in Raleigh and the Triangle? This week we compare Raleigh and Durham to other large metros and discuss the relationship between transit and traffic.

Some of the numbers we mention:

  • Durham Freeway near the Fayetteville Street exit has an average daily volume of 82,000 cars, and I-85 just north of Downtown Durham is 93,000 cars.
  • I-40, at its busiest point in Cary and RTP, had an average daily volume of 174,000 cars as of 2015. By comparison, it was 155,000 cars just 10 years before.
  • Interstate 540 near Glenwood Avenue has an average daily volume of 105,000 cars. The Beltline near Wake Forest Road is 128,000 cars. US-1 coming into Raleigh from Cary near Crossroads is 138,000 cars.
  • In 1980, the region had a population of about 550,000 people, and in 2015 the population was approximately 2.2 million.
  • I-85 going into Charlotte has 178,000 cars daily while I-77 in has 182,000 cars.
  • I-95 around Washington, D.C. gets an average daily volume of 231,000 cars.
  • Atlanta’s Georgia 400 sees 243,000 cars daily.
  • In Los Angeles, I-405 has 385,000 cars daily.

Inrix – Data Analytics

Photo by NCDOT Communications/Flickr Creative Commons
Photo by NCDOT Communications/Flickr Creative Commons

Survey: Raleigh residents happy to be here, but the traffic stinks – News & Observer, Feb. 9, 2017

How traffic in Raleigh, Durham compares to N.C., global cities, Triangle Business Journal – Feb. 22, 2017

Raleigh metro’s population to grow by 72 percent in 25 years, new report estimates – Triangle Business Journal, Oct. 11, 2017

Don’t Demonize Driving, Just Stop Subsidizing It – CityLab, Feb. 16, 2017

Public Transportation Does Relieve Traffic Congestion, Just Not Everywhere – City Lab, April 1, 2013

What Does Transit Do About Traffic Congestion? – Human Transit, July 29, 2010

NC DOT Complete 540 Project Page

From sleepy community to boomtown, Fuquay-Varina studying ways to ease traffic congestion – WRAL, March 13, 2017

And for fun, morning rush hour in Amsterdam 🙂