Annual report shows traffic delays worst in the nation

By: WYATT HAUPT - Staff Writer | Thursday, February 5, 2004 11:13 PM PST ∞

Southern California has the dubious distinction of having the worst traffic jams in the country, increasingly poor air quality and housing affordability levels well below the national average, according to a study released Thursday by a regional planning agency.

With those problems plus an increase in the unemployment rate, lower educational performances in most counties and declines in personal income, the region faces major challenges in the years ahead if it expects to turn itself around, the Southern California Association of Governments reported.

The association's territory covers Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.

Association 1st Vice President and Temecula City Councilman Ron Roberts said the annual report on the State of the Region for 2003 is scary, particularly with respect to air quality and transportation. Letter grades are issued in the report for seven categories ---- air quality, employment, education, housing, income, mobility and safety.

The mobility, or transportation, category received the lowest overall grade ---- a D minus, down from a D the previous year. Air quality also posted a decline, dropping to a C from a B minus.

"It is not going to get any better with air quality and mobility because, with the state being broke right now and having no transportation funds available, a lot of the projects we thought we were going to have built aren't going to be built for a number of years," Roberts said.

The association estimated that motorists spent "an average of 50 hours of delay per person" in 2001 due to traffic in the Southern California region. The association used traffic figures from 2001 to calculate its projections in the annual report.

The report also pointed out that the traffic delay per person in the Inland Empire has increased by 70 percent to 34 hours from 20 hours since 1990.

Inland Empire economist John Husing said the poor showing in Riverside and San Bernardino counties was the result of the state and region being unable to plow dollars into infrastructure improvements because of ongoing budget restraints.

"We are not investing the way we need to be," Husing said.

The Southern California region also received poor grades in education, a D, and housing, a D plus. Listed as some of the deficiencies in education were performances by eighth-graders in reading and math scores, which ranked below the national median with the exception of Orange and Ventura counties.

In the housing category, the region earned its poor showing for a decline in housing affordability ---- less than one-third of the households could afford a median-priced home in Southern California in 2002. The report did not include the cost of a median-priced home in that year.

The report also stated that housing affordability levels for renters decreased, largely because of a 3 percent to 4 percent rise in rents between 2000 and 2002 and no growth in household income.

Rounding out the report card was the employment sector, which received a B minus; income, a C minus; and safety, a B. In 2002, the employment sector lost 22,000 jobs, the first year with an overall loss since the end of the last recession in 1993, according to the report.

Personal income per capita also declined in 2001 for the first time since 1993. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate increased to 6.1 percent from 5.1 percent in the same period. One bright spot in the annual report was a decrease in violent crimes in the region, down 3 percent in 2002, when compared with 2001.

Southern California's report card

The Southern California Association of Governments annual report on the State of the Region graded the six-county area in seven categories.

Air Quality C

Education D

Employment B-

Housing D+

Income C-

Mobility D-

Safety B

Source: Southern California Association of Governments

Contact staff writer Wyatt Haupt at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or whaupt@californian.com.