Advancing Our Region: Preface to a Blueprint for Regional Mobility

Mobility Matters to Our Region’s Future

• Over ten million people depend on our regional transportation system to access jobs, education, and vital services every day
• Mobility is essential to our region’s prosperity and quality of life. It impacts employers’ ability to attract and retain talent.
• Today’s poor mobility performance costs our region more than $7 billion annually in wasted time, money, and productivity. In fact, parts of the region suffer the largest congestion costs in the country.

Nearly 50% of commuters in the Capital Region travel across county lines on a daily basis to access jobs.

2/3 of millennials in the Washington metro area would consider moving out of the region, with 80 percent citing “horrendous traffic” for making their daily lives and future prospects unsatisfactory

Source: Kogod School of Business, Greater Washington Index 2016: Millennials

Our Transportation System Has Tremendous Assets but Is Constrained

• Our region’s organizational composition creates unique impediments to a seamless, consumer-centric mobility experience.
• Our region has not identified how to fund today’s transportation needs, and it is unclear how we will pay for future needs.

More than 75 entities – public and private – play significant decision-making or operational role in delivering mobility options and services in our region.

Transportation funding needs through 2040 ($ in billions)

Source: Long-Range Transportation Plans for BMC, MWCOG, FAMPO and Richmond RTPO

Bold Action is Needed to Change Our Trajectory

• The inconvenient truth is that under current projections, our transportation system will struggle to meet future consumers’ needs. Currently planned investments will only slow the deterioration of the system’s performance.
• Under current projections, roadway congestion will worsen across the Capital Region through 2040, increasing by more than 50 percent.
• By 2020, transit will reach capacity in the District’s downtown core, and buses and rail cars will be even more congested. The region has not identified sufficient funding to expand transit services to meet future demand.

Road Congestion in the Capital Region, 2007-2030

 

We Need a Blueprint for Regional Mobility

• Priority 1 – Connect the Super Region
  Better connect Baltimore, Washington, and Richmond with faster, more reliable, and robust rail and highway options.

• Priority 2 – Improve the Customer Experience
  Prioritize investments and develop a modern funding strategy.
• Priority 3 – Ensure Equitable Access
  Provide equitable access for every resident in our region.
• Priority 4 – Integrate Innovation
  And adopt innovative solutions to overcome our most immediate transportation issues.