FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Report available at tripnet.org

Contact:
Carolyn Bonifas Kelly 703.801.9212 (cell)

Rocky Moretti 202.262.0714 (cell)

TRIP office 202.466.6706

MEMPHIS MOTORISTS LOSE MORE THAN $2,000 PER YEAR ON ROADS THAT ARE ROUGH, CONGESTED & LACK SOME SAFETY FEATURES – $6 BILLION STATEWIDE. COSTS WILL RISE AND CONDITIONS WILL WORSEN WITHOUT INCREASED FUNDING
Eds.: The report includes regional pavement conditions, congestion levels, highway safety data, and cost breakdowns for the Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville urban areas. 

Memphis, TN – Roads and bridges that are deteriorated, congested or lack some desirable safety features cost Tennessee motorists a total of $6 billion statewide annually – $2,019 per driver in the Memphis urban area – due to higher vehicle operating costs, traffic crashes and congestion-related delays. Increased investment in transportation improvements at the local and  state levels could relieve traffic congestion, improve road, bridge and transit conditions, boost safety, and support long-term economic growth in Tennessee, according to a new report released today by TRIP, a Washington, DC based national transportation organization.

The TRIP report, Tennessee Transportation by the Numbers: Meeting the State’s Need for Safe, Smooth and Efficient Mobility,” finds that throughout Tennessee, nearly a quarter of major, locally and state-maintained urban roads are in poor or mediocre condition and five percent of Tennessee’s locally and state-maintained bridges are structurally deficient. The state’s major urban roads are becoming increasingly congested with travel up nine percent between 2013 and 2016, with drivers wasting significant amounts of time and fuel each year. And traffic fatalities in Tennessee increased  by eight percent from 2015 to 2016.

Driving on Memphis area roads costs the average driver $2,019 per year in the form of extra vehicle operating costs (VOC) as a result of driving on roads in need of repair, lost time and fuel due to congestion-related delays, and the costs of traffic crashes in which the lack of adequate roadway safety features likely were a contributing factor. The TRIP report calculates the cost to motorists of insufficient roads in the Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville urban areas. A breakdown of the costs per motorist in each area along with a statewide total is below.

  VOC Safety Congestion Total
Chattanooga $387 $354 $730 $1,471
Knoxville $172 $355 $849 $1,376
Memphis $589 $350 $1,080 $2,019
Nashville $192 $307 $1,168 $1,667
Tennessee $1.3 Billion $1.9 Billion $2.8 Billion $6 Billion

The TRIP report finds that 51 percent of major locally and state-maintained roads in the Memphis urban area are in poor or mediocre condition, costing the average motorist an additional $589 each year in extra vehicle operating costs, including accelerated vehicle depreciation, additional repair costs, and increased fuel consumption and tire wear.

“Memphis is recognized as one of the leading transportation centers in the country, but our economy, environment, and safety are in jeopardy unless additional resources are allocated to our transportation infrastructure,” said Dexter Muller of the Transportation Coalition of Tennessee.

Traffic congestion in the Memphis area is worsening, causing 43 annual hours of delay for the average motorist and costing each driver $1,080 annually in lost time and wasted fuel.

Five percent of Tennessee’s bridges are structurally deficient, with significant deterioration to the bridge deck, supports or other major components. In the Memphis urban area, five percent of bridges are structurally deficient.

Traffic crashes in Tennessee claimed the lives of 4,965 people between 2012 and 2016, an average of 993 fatalities per year. The number of fatalities increased eight percent from 2015 to 2016, from 958 to 1,036. Tennessee’s overall traffic fatality rate of 1.25 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel is higher than the national average of 1.13. In the Memphis urban area, on average, 122 people were killed in traffic crashes in each of the last three years.

The efficiency and condition of Tennessee’s transportation system, particularly its highways, is critical to the health of the state’s economy.  Annually, $619 billion in goods are shipped to and from sites in Tennessee, mostly by truck. Seventy-six percent of the goods shipped annually to and from sites in Tennessee are carried by trucks and another 14 percent are carried by courier services or multiple mode deliveries, which include trucking.

“The condition of Tennessee’s transportation system will worsen in the future without additional funding, leading to even higher costs for drivers,” said Will Wilkins, TRIP’s executive director. “In order to promote economic growth, foster quality of life and get drivers safety and efficiently to their destination, Tennessee will need to make transportation funding a top priority.”