The Gridlock State

For Californians, traffic is both a fact of life and a source of unending frustration. Simply put, the state’s available road space cannot accommodate the constantly growing demand, which has led to record levels of congestion. But traffic doesn’t just take a financial toll, it hurts quality of life for nearly everyone who calls the Golden State home.

Los Angeles is the most congested city in the nation, with drivers spending an average of 102 hours in traffic per year during peak travel periods. San Francisco ranks third in the U.S., with an average of 79 hours. By comparison, the average U.S. driver spends only about 41 hours per year battling traffic.

Factoring in lost time, wasted fuel and carbon emissions, the combined total cost of congestion in Los Angeles and San Francisco is estimated at nearly $30 billion. In addition, Los Angeles has 10 of the 25 worst traffic hotspots in the U.S., an unwanted honor that's expected to cost drivers $91 billion over the next decade.

Through research, innovation and education, the California State University is actively working to solve the state’s traffic troubles and, in the process, improve Californians' daily lives while keeping our economy on the right track. Read on to learn more about the work of our faculty, students and staff at campuses all over the state.

In a 9,000-square-foot warehouse near the San José State University campus, dozens of students are working on what may be the future of urban transportation: the Spartan Superway. Students involved in the project, led by San José State engineering professor Burford Furman, Ph.D., are creating a futuristic personal rapid transit system that uses renewable energy.

The Superway operates similarly to a monorail, with four-person podcars that ride on an elevated rail, but travelers stop at “offline stations” that deliver them directly to their destination without having to stop at every station along the way. The result is a quick, convenient journey.

The elevated Superway also has the potential to alleviate traffic congestion more effectively than traditional ground public transportation by reducing the volume of vehicles on the roads. In addition, commuters would have a shorter travel time, less waiting and fewer parking headaches.

Smaller-scale rail systems like the Superway's automated transit network (ATN) may be a good solution for easing traffic in small- and medium-size cities in which conventional rail is not feasible. The ATN concept itself is not new, but the Spartan Superway team is taking new approaches to inspiring the next generation of engineers and commuters.

At California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, students of civil engineering professor Xudong Jia, Ph.D., take part in a senior project that gives them plenty of real-world experience in tackling some of Southern California’s worst traffic hotspots.

Every year for more than a decade, a group of Dr. Jia’s students selects a local area with significant traffic challenges and works together to develop a solution, which they then present to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

This past year’s project focused on a segment of highway—State Route 60 (SR 60)—in Beaumont, a small city in Riverside County. Because Beaumont is growing rapidly and its infrastructure can't keep up with traffic demand, students developed a plan that would increase the capacity for vehicles, alleviate congestion and provide improved access for drivers along the route.

Their plan includes a proposal for adding an additional lane in each direction of traffic along a section of SR 60, as well as adding a modified cloverleaf interchange at the intersection of SR 60 and Jack Rabbit Trail. The overpass of this intersection would accommodate bicycles and pedestrians.

Solving a problem as big and complex as traffic in a state the size of California requires creating a dialogue with a wide variety of people. That was the genesis of California State University, San Bernardino’s William and Barbara Leonard Transportation Center (LTC), which focuses on issues related to reducing transportation costs and increasing efficiency in Southern California. 

In addition to a robust research and student engagement program, the center serves as a local think tank and leads many of the conversations that must take place for the state to find solutions that will ease congestion now and into the future. 

“We are currently undergoing a radical transformation in the transportation sector with the advancement of new technologies, and that makes planning ahead even more important,” says LTC Executive Director Kimberly Collins, Ph.D.

CSU San Bernardino is also garnering attention with its recent selection as one of only 18 institutions nationwide to take part in a U.S. Department of Transportation program to study expected traffic trends in the next three decades.

Leading the Dialogue

The LTC hosts dialogue series and workshops that bring public and private sector experts together to explore solutions to these problems. To address traffic challenges years down the road, the conversation has to start today, says Dr. Collins. Visit the LTC’s Mobility Dialogue Series site to learn about upcoming panels and workshops. Below are links to two recent conversations.