Study: Rockville-to-Airport Travel Times Are Up

With one exception—a morning rush hour trip to Washington Dulles International Airport—it took longer to get from Rockville to any of the region’s three major airports in 2011 than it did in 2003, according to a recent study by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board.

The increased times are due to increasing congestion on the region's highways, the report said. Congestion is only expected to get worse and those times are only expected to grow longer.

Lane-miles of congested highway during morning rush hour in the Washington metropolitan region are expected to increase more than 100 percent in suburban areas from 2010 to 2040, according to the report, which TPB Weekly Report summarized Tuesday. Lane-mile congestion in the overall region is expected to increase by 38 percent, the report said.

Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration projects local air passenger originations to increase at each of the three airports by 2040, according to TBD Weekly Report.

Passenger originations are expected to increase, over 2010 levels, by 220 percent at Dulles (IAD), by 120 percent at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) and by 40 percent increase at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

This highlights the need for appropriate planning, according to the TPB.

The report found the following changes in travel times from Rockville between 2003 and 2011:

• Morning rush hour to DCA: Increased from 50.3 minutes to 51.8 minutes.
• Morning rush hour to IAD: Decreased from 42.9 minutes to 32.7 minutes, the only decrease among any of the rush hour trips to any of the three airports.
• Morning rush hours to BWI: Increased from 57.1 minutes to 78 minutes.
• Evening rush hour to DCA: Increased from 41.6 minutes to 51.4 minutes.
• Evening rush hour to IAD: Increased from 38.5 minutes to 54.5 minutes.
• Evening rush hour to BWI: Increased from 49.4 minutes to 86.4 minutes.

Rockville is not alone. Evening rush hour travel times increased between airports and most of the residential or commercial centers studied.

The report mentions last year’s opening of the Intercounty Connector, which spans Interstate 370 in Gaithersburg to Interstate 95 near Laurel.

TPB analysis shows the ICC shortens the trip between Rockville and BWI by 13 minutes (a 23 percent reduction) during the midday and by 35 minutes (a 41 percent reduction) during the evening rush hour, TPB Weekly Report reported.

The 2011 Ground Access Travel Time Study is part of a TPB Continuous Airport Systems Planning Program.

The region's airports are responsible for an annual regional economic impact of more than $30 billion and for 250,000 jobs, according to TPB Weekly Report.