Dealing with traffic on the Interstate 15 Corridor

Michael H. Momeni, PhD

Why is it that we continue to have heavy traffic on Interstate 15 in spite of the expansion of a major portion of this corridor? It seems intuitive that to reduce the congestion, we think that either we have to decrease the number of cars or build more capacity.  But this runs contrary to what seems to happen. Observation suggests that traffic expands to meet existing capacity.  As an example, traffic on Interstate 5 between San Clemente and Los Angeles is still congested in spite of recent road expansion.

Observation indicates this transition following the highway expansion would happen quickly. The new lanes would not ease local traffic and once more congestion would return.  It is understood that by improving interstate traffic, more people would move further away from the workplace and would lead to more local congestion on the interconnecting interstate roads. The same principle equally applies to other modes of mass transit system, such as conventional commuter trains. With one exception, environmental impact and social-psychological impacts of an electric commuter train is a very small fraction of a congested highway.

The primary contributing factor appears to be the greater affordability of housing in Riverside County when compared with adjacent counties, such as San Diego County. For commuters with families, the decision of where to live is related to proximity to better schools and a willingness to accept the hardship of living far from one’s workplace. The latter consideration plays out not only in the price of gasoline and the wear and tear on one’s car, but also in the quality of life compromised by a long, time-consuming commute. While increasing the freeway’s capacity to accommodate more cars initially might decrease travel time for some, it might also make the more distant townships even more desirable. The added housing would result in more highway congestion, once again causing longer commuting time from home to the workplace. 

Clearly, accommodating more automobiles in the I-15 corridor would not be the ideal solution, either for the commuters or for the air quality in the Southern California region.   Currently, a light rail system connects several cities in Riverside County to Los Angeles, with Union Station serving as a hub. Could such a light rail system be built to serve Riverside and San Diego counties?

The housing shortage leads to more real estate development. It is intuitive that the regional population within the Temecula Valley will increase, within a short time the combined population within Temecula-Murrieta region will approach half-million people. It is imperative that we chose those modes of transportation that use clean energy, such as electric train for mass transit over fossil fuel automobiles.

Acknowledgement:
This essay way was reviewed by Elena Garcia. I am deeply appreciative of her constructive suggestions.