The Importance Of Traffic In The City Of Corpus Christi

Traffic exists everywhere around us. Our city of Corpus Christi’s population is expanding at a rapid rate. As a result, this is one of the strengths because it brings in extra profit for businesses and the city. According to the United Census Bureau, the last population count in 2014 came out to 320,434. That is 15,219 additional people added to our community in 4 years since the last count in 2010. However, even though additional people can be beneficial, it produces more issues with traffic. This means additional drivers on the road, which causes traffic jams, car accidents, and other vehicle related incidents. The congestion of traffic in our city has become extremely serious, and it is causing an enormous amount of issues; therefore several
possible solutions that can help limit the traffic and make driving easier in our city is, fixing damaged roads up, doing construction work overnight instead of during the day, adding individual red stop lights at the exits of major roads off of the freeway instead of yielding traffic, and the overall best solution is for people to utilize public transportation. The traffic in our community is a crucial problem that needs to be dealt with.
There is an excessive amount of traffic at our major exits and entrances on and off the highway, and our major roads such as Weber, Everhart, Staples, and Airline; therefore, making it difficult for drivers to move around without sitting in a traffic jam. According to Woolbright’s article, ‘“[One has] to allow for an extra 45 minutes round-trip almost whenever [one is] trying to [drive] somewhere,’ said Eric Rios, who lives in an apartment complex adjacent to Everhart — the city’s second-busiest roadway. It wastes my gas, too (par. 5).” In addition, weather and traffic demand cause the traffic to be congested too. Even though weather is not in our control, if everyone drove safely, this will limit accidents that cause backup. Also, traffic demand is challenging to control; since our city is growing with extra businesses and attractions, people would like to move or visit here. According to Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa’s article in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, he mentions:
The demand for roadway space has grown much faster than the supply of that space. It is estimated that 1,000 people are moving to Texas each day. Our infrastructure needs to be able to support this growth. In the past 40 years, our population has grown 125 percent, vehicular use has increased 172 percent and highway use has increased 238 percent, but highway space has only increased a mere 19 percent (par.
3). Furthermore, construction can be responsible for some congestion. The city can control when they do construction, so they should be smart with their decisions and not have city workers working at peak hours of traffic which cause severe traffic backup. In addition, car accidents are another reason. According to accidentdatacenter.com, “Motor vehicle accidents are a common occurrence in Corpus Christi and across Nueces County. Many crashes are completely avoidable, caused by drunk drivers or distracted drivers. Whatever the cause, car accidents are a major safety and economic issue for the Corpus Christi community (par. 1).” People need to pay attention to the roads better and maybe there would not be numerous accidents that bring on congestion. Initially, the first possible solution to reduce congestion is fixing up damaged roads. The cost is extremely expensive, if the city were to fix up every road in the way it should be. TRIP examines the cost of traffic in a study:
A study by TRIP, a national transportation research group, suggests that the condition of Texas roads could be costing Texas drivers as much as $2,000 a year. The study also states that issues including traffic congestion, damage to vehicles from roads needing repair, and costs incurred in accidents caused by insufficient safety features on roadways cost drivers in Texas $23 billion annually (Hinojosa, par 2). If the city were to fix up the roads, it would in fact go both ways with the congestion. I had the pleasure of interviewing a concerned driver of our community, Eric Hernandez, and here is what he said: At the time at actually fixing the roads, more than likely not, because we would have [supplementary] road workers and city workers on the roads, and that in itself would cause an entire lane to be out of service for them to be working on and [truly] fixing it correctly rather than patchwork. That would cause additional congestion at that time. However, afterwards driving on [smooth] roads could cause less congestion. I agree with his statement on how it could be a disadvantage and also an advantage. We need to focus on the significant roads in our city primarily and those are the first roads to start with. If we complete little by little, the congestion of traffic will decrease. In the second place, another interesting solution is doing construction work in the middle of the night rather than during the day.
They do road work overnight, but then again not as much as they should. If they worked on the roads overnight, they would finish faster and the fixed up roads would produce less congestion. On the other hand, fixing up roads is extremely expensive and the city might not be able to get all of them repaired; however, if the majority of the busiest roads were to be fixed up, that is better than nothing. Woolbright states, ‘“It is estimated that the amount of work needed on Corpus Christi’s better half of [the] streets is in the $105 million range, so the approximately $15 million annual commitment to the maintenance program should be adequate for addressing those issues, Leal said (par. 22).” Nobody enjoys sitting in traffic and this solution could benefit us in an effective
way. Additionally, another possible solution to alleviate the traffic congestion is adding individual red stop lights at the major exits and entrances off and on the freeway. From personal experience, I have seen these lights being utilized before, and they have helped. When I lived in California, these red stop lights would allow for one car to drive at a time. The benefit is that, people would not be trying to rush to move over in a hurry to turn right and possibly cut someone off. If it is their turn to go, they can get over quickly and not have any issues. However, there is also a downside to this solution; it could cause a small amount of extra cars on the highway, when that one car getting off of the highway has to stop. The key thing to remember is, traffic will always be an issue to worry about no matter what. I interviewed a driver, Karol Charles, who is affected by traffic congestion every day. Here is her words: “There is always going to be traffic, and there is never a quick fix for it.” The pros outweigh the cons for this solution, but the work needed would cost time and money which can produce more backup, if workers are in the way of the affected areas. Overall, the final product would be beneficial. The overall best solution to ending traffic congestion would be, if people utilized public transportation, such as buses, taxis, riding bikes, or even walking more. People always complain about the buses being late; therefore, no one decides to utilize them. The reason for the buses late arrivals are the extra traffic on the road. What most do not realize that if extra people took the bus, it would remove those additional vehicles off of the roads and allow for the buses to arrive at their scheduled route in an efficient time. When I interviewed an individual, Eric Hernandez, who is affected every day by this issue; he had this to say: If people rode bikes, or walked to work, they could probably cut down a lot in the morning and in the afternoon. If more people took advantage of the public transport system such as city buses, that would cut down as well. The fact is that 1 in 3 Americans live within 1 to 5 miles of work. The fact is we prefer [accessibility] and immediate gratification because vehicles are very convenient.
I stand strong with his statement. Personally, for the reason, I take pleasure in the convenience of my vehicle. Also, consider the extra jobs this solution can provide for people. The city can spend money to buy additional busses and hire more employees. Taxi companies can buy more taxis and hire extra drivers. We need to get into the minds of people and let them recognize that this solution can truly make a difference. In conclusion, understanding that the traffic in our community is a serious issue and needs to be addressed will only benefit the individuals of our city. Fixing up the damaged roads, doing construction work overnight, adding individual red stop lights at the exits of major roads off of the freeway, and people utilizing public transportation more often can relieve the congestion. Just remember, there will always be traffic no matter what. However, taking the appropriate actions to correct this issue today will benefit us in the future.