Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.
Las Vegas traffic can be slow, frustrating and a favorite complaint of area commuters, but according to a Census Bureau survey from 2000 to 2002, the average trip to work shrank slightly for residents of Las Vegas, Clark County and the state.
Las Vegas residents spent an average of 23.3 minutes getting to work in 2002, tying the city with St. Louis as having the 33rd-longest trips to work among American cities, according to Census Bureau figures.
The average 2002 commute was 0.8 minutes shorter than it was for Las Vegans in 2000, at 24.1 minutes. The average trip to work for all Clark County residents and Nevadans also dropped by up to a minute during those years, according to the figures.
But while the trend is a positive one for the area, officials say the difference in average commuting times during those three years is statistically negligible, meaning that the numbers really show there was likely little or no change in the average commute for area residents.
Mona Reno, the state Data Center librarian and the person responsible for disseminating census information in Nevada, said that while the improvement would be almost meaningless to the individual commuter, the cut in the average commute over one year -- 0.3 minutes from 2001 to 2002, for example -- means city residents altogether cut 4.84 days from their time on the roads.
The average Las Vegan's commute was 23.6 minutes in 2001 and 23.3 minutes in 2002, according to Census Bureau statistics.
"That three-tenths of a minute isn't much for any one person, but it's almost five days for the whole area," Reno said. "We saved almost five days of driving around."
Some local officials said keeping average commutes from growing shows that road improvements and highway projects have paid off.
Regional Transportation Commission spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman said that with the continuing growth of the region, it could be difficult to keep commuting times down.
"Looking at a drop in commutes with the growth we've had, it's a wonderful statistic to point to, but I wouldn't say that's an ongoing trend you can expect year to year," Reisman said. "With the kind of growth we have, just trying to keep up with it is a continuous challenge."
Reisman said the RTC doesn't have a target commuting time for the area, but she said it should be shorter.
Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Bob McKenzie said the downward trend in commuting time, if it's accurate, should continue in the coming years with improvements around the Spaghetti Bowl, where U.S. 95 and Interstate 15 meet, the widening of U.S. 95 in some areas and improvements on the Las Vegas Beltway.
A national survey released earlier this month said the Spaghetti Bowl was America's 22nd worst bottleneck and costs Las Vegas Valley residents 11 million hours in lost time each year. The survey was commissioned by the American Highway Users Alliance and largely paid for by donations from industry groups representing such interests as contractors and auto manufacturers, who suggest focusing on the bottlenecks as a way to reduce overall traffic.
McKenzie said the real trouble at the interchange of I-15 and U.S. 95 is on the connections from I-15 North to U.S. 95 North, and to the Rancho Drive exit. Coming improvements to the interchange should help ease congestion there and improve commutes, he said.
"By 2006 you'll see a drastic improvement," McKenzie said.
For all county residents, the average commute was 24.1 minutes in 2000, dropped to 22.7 minutes in 2001, and rose to 23.1 minutes in 2002, which put the county in a tie with Mecklenburg County, N.C., for having the 133rd-longest commutes.
W.T. Riaz, 25, said it takes him about 20 minutes to get from his Henderson home to work at the Fashion Show mall, and traffic has seemed about the same since he moved to the area three years ago.
"It's a commute, but I chose to live here away from the Strip, so it's my own fault," he said. "It probably takes a good 20 minutes with traffic to get to work."
Jane Feldman, conservation chairwoman for the local chapter of the Sierra Club, said she doubts the average commute for area residents is longer than 20 or 23 minutes.
"That's not my experience," Feldman said. "But it all depends on what's your frustration level. If there's a perception there are too many cars and few options ... people are frustrated and stressed out when they drive."
Across the state in 2002, the average commuter took 21.7 minutes to get to work, which was up 0.1 seconds from 2001, but about 0.7 seconds less than the 22.4-minute average in 2000, the statistics said. The 2002 average tied Nevada with Minnesota for 33rd-longest commute among the states.
Marcus Reed, 39, a cabdriver who lives in northwest Las Vegas and commutes to the Strip, said that while it takes him at least 30 or 40 minutes to get to work, his commute was much worse when he lived in the San Francisco area.
"I didn't even try to drive when I was there," Reed said, adding that some traffic congestion is to be expected in Las Vegas.
"You have to expect it in a big city like this, and Vegas is getting bigger. What's different here is you have to drive everywhere, or take a bus. You can't take the BART or Muni (subway and bus systems) to beat traffic. You've got to grin and bear it. It's gotten a little busier on the roads, but Vegas is always busy. More people moving here means more drivers."
San Francisco ranked seventh in the survey with an average commute of 29.1 minutes in 2002.
Among other cities, New Yorkers faced the longest commutes in 2002, an average of 38.4 minutes, followed by Chicago, 32.7 minutes, and Philadelphia, 30.3 minutes.
New York state and the counties around New York City also topped their respective lists. Bronx County, N.Y., residents averaged 41.8-minute commutes, and the average commute in New York state was 30.8 minutes.
The survey results were based on how long it took people who lived within those cities, counties and states to get to work, not how long it took people to get to their jobs in those areas. For example, a survey showing how long it took those who worked in New York City to get to work would likely give far different results, census officials said.
"When you think about it, the commute in Manhattan is not that bad, but that's the people who live in Manhattan and many of them also probably work in Manhattan," Ken Bryson, a program analyst for the Census Bureau, said.
For the 2002 survey the bureau posed questions to 742,409 households throughout the country and had a 97 percent response rate, Bryson said. This year the survey will be sent to 3 million households, which will narrow the margin of error for the survey. The 2002 survey results have a 90 percent confidence level, which for Las Vegans means the margin for error on the average 23.3-minute commute was 1.2 minutes.
The results from the 2003 survey will be available in August, he said.
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