If you feel like commuting longer every day, you feel right.
The peak hours on Melbourne Road are longer. Melbourne, Australia's fastest-growing city, travels more times a day, mostly by car.
Nearly 75% of Melbourne people (more than 1.3 million) rely on driving to work, up nearly 110000 from five years ago.
More and more drivers are putting unprecedented pressure on the road network. During commute time, the average speed of most major roads is even lower than the speed limit in the school area.
Early peak hours have now been extended to three hours. You may also realize that if you leave early in the morning, you may be able to shorten your travel time. But even if the boss agreed to go to work early, the Times analyzed the state road bureau's data. Data show that the early peak has been deteriorating since 2014, so leaving early for work doesn't really make much difference.
-it's rush hour all day.-416x312.png.
The speed of the car has also slowed to an all-time low. , West Gate Freeway averaged 22 km / h and Monash Freeway35 km / h at its early peak, according to November 2016 data.
On some of Melbourne's key roads, the traffic rush hour started earlier and ended later in the morning. West Gate Freeway even started to line up at about 06:30 in the morning.
In 2011, about 77,999 people commuted from Melbourne's western part of the city to work in the inner city. Five years later, that number rose 28 percent to one hundred thousand, and most drove to work.
Daniel Antonello, an expert on smart cities at HERE, says solving traffic problems isn't just about getting people to work on time.
Traffic congestion affects people's happiness, where they choose to live, social productivity, and economic success. The truth is, as the population grows, our path has reached saturation. "
Government promises that widening the road to ten lanes will help reduce rush hour travel time. But Jago Dodson, a planning expert at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said the deterioration in road traffic showed that road construction was not a sustainable solution to congestion.
"if we are to sustain urban development, we are now developing at a rate of 2.5 percent a year, which is a very huge rate of growth by the standards of developed countries, and if we continue to do so, the roads will become even more congested. Road capacity expansion has never been the solution, because eventually the roads will be crowded, and we are back to where we are, and the only long-term option is to invest in other ways. "
Molish warned that rush hours may no longer be the norm twice a day, but the norm that happens most of the day. "our morning and evening rush hours have been extended, and some cities have been stuck in traffic as they begin to overlap in the morning and evening rush hours."
The state's infrastructure agency has warned that Melbourne's population will reach 6 million by 2031 and that traffic delays on key roads in the city will worsen, and the state will also spend 9 billion yuan.
In 10 years, the number of traffic trips in Victoria will increase by 3.4 million times, and road congestion in the early peak period will increase by 12.5 percent.
Melbourne's major road projects include a 15.8 billion-yuan northeast link, a 6.7 billion-yuan west gate tunnel, a 2.2 billion upgrade of 13 trunk roads in northern and southern urban areas, and 1.8 billion-yuan maintenance of eight trunk roads in the west.
Melbourne's Metro Tunnel will reduce City Loop congestion, but experts warn the project will soon reach saturation.
The upgrading of the road system will give commuters a sigh of relief, but those who rely heavily on driving to work will need to be more flexible in the coming years, said Molish of the Victoria State Road Service.
"We are talking about the possibility of doubling the population, and we need to be more flexible."
Even RACV, the state-based car agency, says it's time for people to rethink the way they travel.
"drivers are adding congestion to themselves and others, and if you can avoid traveling or change the way you travel, this is the first step you should take, and it certainly helps. On the other hand, government needs to provide better public transport or bike lanes to give people a better choice. "