GDOT Annual Report 2017

E N G I N E E R I N G

Greensboro Ranks No. 1 Among Drivers

What is the most satisfying city in America for driving? Greensboro, according to the first (2015) and second (2016) annual driver satisfaction index conducted by Waze. Waze offers a mobile navigation and driver assistance app

the City, the MPO, and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to plan, fund, and implement projects to ease congestion. Freeway improvements included first widening I-40 through the City and then Urban Loop (also know as I-840) construction. Most recently, NCDOT completed a 6-mile I-73 connector between NC 68 and US 220. Widenings of Guilford College Road, High Point Road, and US 220 also made a dent, among others. Greensboro has an additional tool to keep traffic flowing: its new state of the art signal system. Recipient of the 2015 Best Project of the Year Award from the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the signal system uses IP/Ethernet communications over fiber optic cable, and a greatly

where drivers can provide data on driving conditions and get notifications about accidents and other delays. For its

driver’s satisfaction index, Waze analyzed the driving experience of more than 65 million active Waze users in 38 countries and 235 metro areas to create a Driver Satisfaction Index. It gave each city a score ranging from satisfying (10) to miserable (1). The score combines Waze user ratings on traffic density and severity; road quality and infrastructure; roadway safety, including the density of accidents, road hazards, and weather; driver services, such as gas stations and easy parking; socioeconomic factors like access to cars and the impact of gas prices; and “Wazeyness.” Wazeyness reflects the happiness and helpfulness of the Waze community, measured by how often drivers thanked each other and driver moods selected within the app. Waze also found Greensboro is the fifth most satisfying city in the world for drivers. Greensboro was only bested by four mid-sized French cities: Valence, Tours, Lemans, and Saint-Etienne. Easing Congestion Although Greensboro was long known as a 15-minute city due to the high quality of the local roadway network, things had gotten much worse by the year 2000. Various bottlenecks impeded traffic through the area. The worst of these bottlenecks was on Greensboro’s two major interstates, I-40 and I-85. At just four to six lanes, these freeways carried more than 100,000 vehicles per day. This was a recipe for congestion, and meant travelers destined for Greensboro or just passing through would often experience heavy delays. But now, in 2017 interstate traffic flows much more smoothly, and many of the surface street bottlenecks have been eliminated. Improved traffic flow is the direct result of hard work by

enhanced network of closed-circuit television cameras to reduce delays at traffic signals. The system enables the City to synchronize traffic signals to a much greater degree, introducing greater vehicle progression to areas that had experienced frequent congestion. The use of more efficient left turn signalization is a part of this. One of the best features of this system is that the technology it uses can be easily upgraded in the

Top Five U.S. Cities (Over 200K Population) for Driver Satisfaction: 1. Greensboro, North Carolina Driver Satisfaction of 8.24 2. Grand Rapids, Michigan Driver Satisfaction of 7.88 3. Cleveland, Ohio Driver Satisfaction of 7.84 4. St. Louis, Missouri Driver Satisfaction of 7.80 5. Dayton, Ohio Driver Satisfaction of 7.78 Bottom Five U.S. Cities (Over 200K Population) for Driver Satisfaction: 1. Honolulu, Hawaii Driver Satisfaction of 4.35 2. Memphis, Tennessee Driver Satisfaction of 5.47 3. San Diego, California Driver Satisfaction of 5.49 4. Portland, Oregon Driver Satisfaction of 5.77 5. Los Angeles, California Driver Satisfaction of 6.1

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