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Traffic tie-ups cost businesses in lost productivity
Editor’s Notes
By Bob Bouyea
I am angry. No, more than that, I am incensed. My ire was raised recently as I tried to get home to attend my daughter’s choir concert that her middle school was presenting at 7 p.m.
Of course, all I could do that day was try to get home. Due to several accidents on westbound Interstate 26, the freeway was backed up past the Dorchester Road exit. Trying to escape this parking lot, many drivers, myself included, were looking for alternative routes, which soon became clogged as well.
I left work at 5:45 when my wife called to alert me to the mess. At 7:10, I arrived at the concert. Luckily for me, the concert’s start was delayed.
I understand that accidents will happen, and delays occur. However, many accidents don’t have to happen. Some are caused by drivers’ inattention to what they are doing, such as driving.
About a month ago, I was a victim of someone’s inattention. While I sat at a stoplight on Ashley Phosphate Road and I-26, a young woman rear-ended me. Thank goodness no one was hurt. My car sustained minor damage (which took a week to repair, but that is a story for another time). But the first thing out of her mouth was she only looked away for a second. That is all it takes.
It is amazing what some people will do while driving. Here are some of the things I’ve witnessed other drivers doing:
• Fixing their hair.
• Shaving.
• Putting on makeup.
• Digging through a purse or briefcase in the seat next to them while talking on a cell phone.
• Reading.
• Eating a bowl of cereal (yes, holding the bowl in one hand and the spoon in the other).
• Tending to a child in the backseat.
I am all for multitasking, but maybe it is not a great idea to do it while attempting to drive.
As businesspeople, we should be concerned about the lost productivity due to employees who are stuck behind these tie-ups. Lost productivity comes in many forms; it can be employees venting about traffic problems to other employees (since most don’t have a column to use), or it can be in lost time because they cannot get to a client for a sales call or delivery.
The recent approval of the Charleston Area Transportation Study Policy Committee’s long-range transportation plan will help by putting a little more space between cars, theoretically speaking of course. The plan recommends widening several over-burdened roadways, such as Dorchester Road, College Park Road, Highway 41 and Highway 17.
However, by the time this work is done, the newly built roads will be obsolete because of the growth in the tri-county area.
EADS circling North Charleston. As we first told you back in April, Charleston has the opportunity to land another aircraft manufacturer. Sure enough, North Charleston is one of four cities in the running for the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. plant that could generate roughly 1,150 jobs.
EADS plans to build a plant in the United States to produce its KC-330 refueling aircraft that it hopes to sell to the Air Force. However, it currently does not have a contract with the Air Force. But even if they are unsuccessful in landing a contract, the company says it will build a smaller plant anyway.
The Charleston area stacks up nicely to meet EADS’ search criteria. The company is looking for a community that has interstate access. Got it. Deep port access. Got it. An airport with a 9,000-foot runway. Got it. And land to house 1.5 million square feet of office, manufacturing and warehouse space. Got it.
Our rivals for this facility are Kiln, Miss., Mobile, Ala., and Melbourne, Fla. From a quick search, Kiln does not meet the runway length requirement, and Melbourne does not have a port, though there is one up Interstate 95.
So the way I see it, Mobile is our strongest competitor.
Landing this company will be a true test for us. The timing could not be more perfect, coming on the heels of the AngelouEconomics study that says, in part, that area leaders need to work together and be unified to encourage economic growth.
We need to end our bickering, settle our squabbles and start acting like we are one area, not a bunch of little fiefdoms. If we cannot accomplish this, then there is no way we will be able to convince EADS to build here.
If EADS does choose us, I will be so surprised that I may drop my razor in my bowl of cereal during my drive in to work.
Bob Bouyea is executive editor of the Business Journal. E-mail him at bbouyea@crbj.com.
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