Now that NYC has voted to roll out the pricing measure, a BU ENG alum talks traffic control measures here and elsewhere
You’re not imagining it: Boston traffic is worse than almost anywhere else.
Our city consistently ranks among the top three most congested US cities, with some reports estimating that Boston drivers lose anywhere from 130 to 150 hours a year to sitting in traffic. When you add the fact that reckless driving is on the rise across the country and that Boston drivers seem to find limitless ways to be aggressive—the word “Masshole” exists for a reason—it’s clear that our roads are in crisis.
The question is, how do we meaningfully reduce traffic?
New York City just took the final step to implement congestion pricing, or the practice of charging drivers extra on busy roads or during peak travel times. Most cars will be charged $15 a day to enter Lower Manhattan and Midtown.
Salomón Wollenstein-Betech (ENG’22,’22), who studied transportation infrastructure and traffic patterns at the Boston University Center for Information & Systems Engineering, says the initiative could work here.
“I think there would be a little hesitation,” says Wollenstein-Betech, now a postdoc at Stanford University. Boston’s public transportation system isn’t as extensive as New York’s. “Still, I think Boston is one of the best cities to be next in line for this trend.”
Read the full Q&A in Bostonia.
Traffic photo by Leon Bredella