BOSTON – The Baker Administration has released a report on traffic congestion that might seem to be a case of stating the obvious: traffic is bad in Massachusetts, especially in the greater Boston area.

But it’s not just the personal impact on people stuck in traffic. Congestion could negatively affect the Massachusetts economy.

State Sen. Eric Lesser told Reminder Publishing that he has been following the writing of the report and that “the big take-away is undeniably traffic is getting worse in every region of the state.”

Lesser explained that with more jobs, people are moving into the state and moving around the state to areas with the greatest opportunity. The problem, he believes, is the state has not kept up with services to match this shifting of people.

Lesser has been the most prominent advocate for an east-west commuter rail line, which he believes could do for Western Massachusetts what the expansion of MBTA lines to Worcester has done in that city – growing economic development.

Future east-west commuter rail is not mentioned in the report.

Although one of the study’s future remedies is “encourage growth in less congested Gateway Cities” (which would include Springfield, Chicopee, Holyoke and Westfield),  there are no more details on a strategy to accomplish this goal.

An action step is listed as “reinvent bus transit at both the MBTA and Regional Transit Authorities.” For years the management of the Regional Transit Authorities, including the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, have called for funding reform.

According to the report’s summary: “Congestion is bad because the economy is good.  The worst congestion in the Commonwealth occurs in Greater Boston. Congestion can and does occur at various times and locations throughout the Commonwealth. Many roadways are now congested outside of peak periods. Congestion worsened between 2013 and 2018. Changes in travel time on an average day do not capture the severity of the problem. Massachusetts has reached a tipping point with respect to congestion. Many commuting corridors have become unreliable, with lengthy trips on bad days. Congestion has worsened to the point where it reduces access to jobs. We should be worried about congestion on local roads, too.”

Congested traffic in Western Massachusetts is mentioned in the report as being a problem on I-91 on the Springfield viaduct for the evening commute starting at 4 p.m. The report notes, “In Western Massachusetts, I-91 southbound between I-291 and US-5 in the Springfield area is congested between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Beyond this segment, roadways in the Springfield region appear to be largely less or uncongested on an average day. On the Massachusetts Turnpike, I-90 westbound from Exit 1 in West Stockbridge to the New York border is heavily congested between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and congested from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. At 5 p.m., the trip takes 6.6 minutes, compared to 2.9 minutes at free-flow time. Finally, Route 7 from Sheffield to Great Barrington is a major retail and commercial corridor in Berkshire County is congested for 10 hours per day – from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. southbound and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. northbound. At 3 p.m., it takes 21 minutes to traverse the corridor southbound and 20 minutes northbound, against a free-flow time of approximately 11 minutes in either direction.”

The report has made the following conclusions about future remedies to congestion:

• Address local and regional bottlenecks where feasible

• Actively manage state and local roadway operations

• Reinvent bus transit at both the MBTA and Regional Transit Authorities

• Increase MBTA capacity and ridership

• Work with employers to give commuters more options, including providing grants for employers, Transit Management Associations, Regional Transit Authorities and others to provide innovative workforce transit options to employees

• Create infrastructure to support shared travel modes

• Increase remote work and telecommuting

• Produce more affordable housing, especially near transit

• Encourage growth in less congested Gateway Cities

• Investigate the feasibility of congestion pricing mechanisms that make sense for Massachusetts, particularly “managed lanes”

In a written statement, Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack said, “We cannot eliminate congestion entirely, but we can better manage it to make trips more reliable and predictable. That includes new initiatives as well as a greater emphasis on practices already in use, such as Traffic Management and Systems Operations (TSMO) practices that have been used in Massachusetts for years. Moving forward, managing roadways through a TSMO framework must become as much a part of MassDOT’s DNA as fixing potholes and plowing snow. Advancing, expanding, and institutionalizing these kinds of solutions will help limit the effects of crashes, work zones and weather on already lengthy commutes.”