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Travel Patterns

As with any major metropolitan area, the economic and population growth have placed increasing pressures on the city’s transportation infrastructure. The automobile is overwhelmingly the most popular choice of travel for Providence residents as shown in the chart below. The percentage of those taking public transportation is comparatively lower than other alternative modes of travel [4]. This is a indicator that public transportation is an area needing improvement, in terms of ridership.

Purple- 1990 Census
Maroon- 2000 Census

Despite the slight decline in the percentage of Providence residents driving to work, the miles that people are driving have increased. The Texas Transportation Institute estimates that in the Providence-Pawtucket metropolitan area where population has increased only 6.6%, the total daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) has increased 26% from 1990 to 2000 [6].

As is expected, the increased VMT has created more congestion on the roads. Congestion delay time in the metropolitan area has increased from 8 hrs/year per traveler in 1990 to 19 hrs/year in 2000, a 57.9% jump! In other words, travelers are stuck in more traffic more often. The increased congestion delay time is also partly responsible for the increased travel time to work. The graph below shows how travel times for Providence residents have shifted from the lower end to the higher end between 1990 and 2000. These times will likely grow even more as the I-195 relocation project and combined sewers overflow (CSO) project move forward.