District of Columbia business, professional and civic leaders express concern about worsening traffic congestion and its impact on the continued growth of the District of Columbia business sector in a survey released today. Traffic congestion will play a role in their business relocation decisions. The survey of members of the Federal City Council was conducted by Widmeyer Communications.
More than eight in ten (83 percent) say traffic has worsened over the past two years, including 32 percent who say it has worsened a great deal. Twelve percent say it’s the “biggest” problem facing the DC business community, with nearly seven in ten (68 percent) saying it is “significant.”
When weighing a business relocation, over one-third (36 percent) of business, professional and civic leaders say they would consider moving out of the District with 12 percent who say they would strongly consider. Relocation decisions are based on many factors including employee commuting experience. Nearly all (98 percent) say workforce commuters who travel by car are important to their business-location decisions, with 71 percent saying they are “very” important.
Federal City Council members indicate strong support for a range of possible actions designed to ease congestion in the District. Highest levels of support are for:
- Modernizing the signal system to ease the flow of traffic (91 percent strongly support, 99 percent total support);
- Developing a multi-jurisdictional approach that seeks input from the business community of DC, Virginia and Maryland (70 percent strongly support, 89 percent total support) ; and
- Developing active neighborhoods that provide a variety of amenities and services for all residents within a 20 minute walk (47 percent strongly support, 89 percent total support).
“Addressing congestion needs to be a top priority for the District. Breakthroughs in data analytics and smart infrastructure are helping cities across the world manage more efficiently”, noted Federal City Council CEO Tony Williams. “Working with our regional partners, D.C.’s business community is here to help apply state-of-the-art technology solutions to our city’s transportation challenges”.
Additional survey findings:
- Sixty-two percent say commuters who travel in their automobiles are very important to the private sector.
- Fifty-nine percent say commuters who travel in their automobiles are very important to the overall economic health of the Metropolitan region.
This survey was conducted to inform MoveDC, the District of Columbia’s effort to develop a bold and implementation-focused vision for D.C.’s transportation future.
