- A new studycommissioned by the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency shows there’s at least one solution to reducing congestion— working from home and hybrid schedules.
- The telecommute study says every one percent reduction in vehicles yields a three-fold decrease in congestion.
- Watch the video to see how reduced congestion lessens impacts on infrastructure, and extends the lifespan of facilities which translates to savings on repair and maintenance.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Working from home and hybrid work schedules is controversial for some employers.
This month marks four years since the COVID-19 pandemic forced thousands of our neighbors to experience working from home for the first time.
I'm looking into how working from home could save taxpayers millions of dollars in road construction costs that’s if more employers get on board.
Traffic in our neighborhoods is now back to pre-pandemic levels and with this comes the dreaded rush hour congestion.
"We want to make sure that when you get up in the morning and go to work, you can get there quickly, and that you can get home quickly in the evenings," Rick Minor, a Leon County Commissioner, and Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency board member said.
A new studycommissioned by the Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency—the region’s metropolitan planning organization—and completed by Kittelson & Associates shows there’s at least one solution to reducing congestion.
"If we have more people telecommuting, that actually reduces some of the stress that we have on our morning and evening commutes, and it helps us plan for the future," Minor said.
Professionals in management, business, financial operations, and computer and mathematical occupations see our region's highest number of work-from-home hybrid schedules.
The study examined traffic and telework conditions pre-pandemic, during and post-pandemic.
It concluded removing both professional and administrative commuters from the regional network dramatically reduced congestion.
Data reveals that 47% of employees commute to or from surrounding rural counties while the remaining 53% live and commute within Leon County.
"The bulk of our citizens obviously drive back and forth to Tallahassee for work," Quincee Messersmith, the Wakulla County Commission Chair and CRPTA Chair said.
Take this projection from the study for example:
In Leon County, if 25% of professionals had a hybrid schedule it would reduce the volume of traffic by 4.7%.
In Wakulla County, where the CRPTA Board Chair lives, it would reduce the volume by even more 5.2%.
"You think about the major thoroughfares with regard to [US]319, [US]98, [FL] 267," Messersmith said. "I mean, it's one of those things that those roads are heavily traveled, even from people that don't travel back and forth to Tallahassee for work every day."
Putting major stress on roads—costs millions to repair—and many times projects are behind schedule due to funding.
"If telecommuting it continues its trend and more and more people are working remotely at least one or two days a week," Minor said. "It helps reduce that congestion and it helps us plan at you know we can delay the widening of a road by 10 or 15 years if more people are working remotely."
And that’s saving taxpayers money.
Taking a look at the CRPTA long-range (20+year) vision, strategy, and capital improvement program that guides the investment of public funds in transportation facilities it shows
road projects totaling 100s of millions of dollars.
The telecommute study says every one percent reduction in vehicles yields a three-fold decrease in congestion.
Reduced congestion lessens impacts on infrastructure, and extends the lifespan of facilities which translates to savings on repair and maintenance.
The catch now is how do you get more business on board when there is legitimate concerns about productivity and IT security from employers.
"What can we all do as a community here to help foster the telecommuting spirits, you know, it may not work out for every company," Minor said.
Find the full Capital Region Telecommute Study here.
