Forbes says Metro Detroit commuters have it rough, including those who take the Davison Freeway, which is set for reconstruction. (Elizabeth Conley / The Detroit News)
What a load of hooey!
That's my reaction to a story just released by Forbes magazine that rates the Detroit area as the second worst commute in the nation.
Worse than New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Boston?
Puh-leeze!
Forbes looked at the 75 largest metro areas in the United States and judged them based on delays, commuting times, infrastructure and alternate means of travel based on data from the U.S. Census and the Texas Transportation Institute.
The Metro area was docked for traffic patterns which "aren't smooth," that only 11 percent of us walk or carpool to work, and that we have a very high single ridership percentage.
What should be taken into account for Metro Detroit's commute is the declining population and high unemployment rate, which results in fewer cars on the road.
Former Los Angeles and Detroit police officer Tom Page said there's no comparison between the Detroit area traffic and Los Angeles.
"Rush hour in L.A. is far beyond anything in Detroit," Page said.
"There's just no comparison to the volume of traffic. It can take hours just to go 30 miles on the 405. L.A. even has 24-hour helicopter traffic reports! People plan everything around avoiding daytime traffic."
Page said Los Angeles does have two advantages over Detroit area traffic: high occupancy lanes, and motorcycle riders who are allowed to "split the lanes" during traffic jams.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey on travel times, Detroit ranked 23rd for travel times with an average commute of 24.7 minutes just a few years ago.
New York City had the longest commute at 38.3 with Chicago second at 33.2.
Sterling Heights commuter Dennis Zitny isn't buying the Forbes ranking.
"Our congestion just isn't that bad," he said. "In Chicago, you're in bumper to bumper traffic to get downtown, especially on the weekends. It's the same in New York and D.C.
"I find that study not to be relevant to my lifestyle and most of the people in the state, so I reject it."
Here's the way I judge a commute: How big a pain in my seat warmer is the trip?
I've driven in all those other cities, and I would rather have a tooth pulled than commute in any other big city compared to Detroit.
Commuting tgreenwood@detnews.com">tgreenwood@detnews.com
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