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FOUND. >> WE ARE PACKED IN LIKE A BUNC OF SARDINES. CROWDED, STICKY, HOT. >> THIS IS THE 111 BU IT IS THE TRANSPORTATION LIFELINE FOR 12,000 COMMUTERS INTO AND OUT OF BOSTON EACH DAY. WE RODE WITH MIGUEL FROM BOSTON, HOME TO CHELSEA DURING RUSH HOUR. >> IT REALLY DOES NOT ALLOW FOR PEOPLE TO GET ANYWHERE EFFICIENTLY. >> A TWO MILE TRIP TOOK 45 MINUTES. YOU COULD WALK OVER THE TOBIN BRIDGE FASTER THAN TAKING THIS BUS. THIS IS ONE EXAMPLE OF THE GRIDLOCK PARALYZING T REGION, SAYS CHRIS DEMPSEY, WHO HEADS TH NONPROFIT GROUP TRANSPORTATION FOR MASSACHUSETTS. >> WE HAVE THE WORST TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY AND A TRANSIT SYSTEM THAT IS FAILING PEOPLE ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS. BUT HE SAYS THAT CAN CHANGE QUICKLY IF LEADERS ON BEAC HILL WILL OPEN THEIR MINDS TO CUTTING-EDGE SOLUTIONS ALREADY SUCCEEDING IN OTHER STATES. STARTING WITH SOLUTION NUMBER ONE, SOMETHING CALLED SMARTER TOLLING THE, CHARGING PEOPLE MORE TO CHARGE ON RUSH HO THAN LESS BUSY TIMES OF DAY. >> IF WE TAKE A SMALL NUMBER OF CARS OFF THE ROAD, WE CAN GET A BIG IMPACT. SOLUTION NUMBER TWO, DEDICATED BUS LANES. THEY ARE WORKING IN EVERETT. BY CREATING SPECIAL LANES THAT ALLOW THE BUSES TO HAVE HEAVY TRAFFIC. IF BUS TRANSPORTATION IS SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVED, EXPERTS SAY THAT MORE WILL USE IT WHICH MEANS THAT FEWER CARS ARE ON THE ROAD. MODERNIZING THE MBTA. GOVERNOR CHARLIE BAKER SAYS THAT IS FULLY UNDERWAY WITH MORE THAN A BILLION DOLLARS BUDGETED FOR NEXT YEAR. >> IF PEOPLE WANT TO SOLVE THIS, THEY SHOULD FOLLOW OUR CAPITAL PLAN AND SUPPORTED WITH 100,000 NEW SEATS ON THE RAPID TRANS SYSTEM AND THOUSANDS OF NEW SEATS ON THE COMMUTER RAIL SYSTEM. >> PLANS ALSO CALL FOR STATE-OF-THE-ART SWITCHES, ADDING DOUBLE-DECKER TRAINS TO THE COMMUTER RAIL. >> THE ISSUE IS FIGURING OUT A WAY TO MAKE TH INVESTMENT TO IMPROVE HE -- IMPROVE RELIABILITY AND PREDICTABILITY. SOLUTION NUMBER FOUR, NEW HOUSING NEAR RAILS TOPS. >> WE SHOULD BE LOOKING AT BUILDING HOUSING AND NEW JOBS NEAR ALL OF OUR RAPID TRANSIT TIMES NEAR ALL OF OUR COMMUTER RAIL TOPS. >> A NEW BLOCK OF WHOLE HOUSING UNITS IS GOING UP RIGHT ACROSS THE COMMUTER RAIL STOP. IF WE CAN GIVE PEOPLE THE OPTION OF LEAVING THEIR CARS AT HOME, INSTEAD OF GETTING ON THE BUS OR WALKING TOUR, WE HAVE A SYSTEM THAT WILL WORK MUCH MORE EFFICIENTLY. >> THERE IS A LOT AT STAKE AT LOOKING TOWARDS THE SOLUTIONS AND NOBODY KNOWS THAT BETTER THAN THE ENTREPRENEURS IN KENDALL SQUARE WHO CREATED ONE OF THE ENGINES FUELING THE STATE TO ECONOMIC BOOM. KENDALL SQUARE IS THE EPICENTER OF THE GLOBAL INNOVATION COMMUNITY. WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE CURE FOR CANCER BUT TOO MANY OF US, INSTEAD OF BEING AT OUR DESKS SEARCHING FOR THE CURE ARE SITTING IN TRAFFIC. >> CA WEBB SAYS CEOS ARE CONCERNED THAT CONGESTION AND PROBLEMS WITH THE T WIL DRIVE COMPANIES AND EMPLOYEES OUT OF MASSACHUSETTS. THAT IS WHY THEY ARE NOW WORKING ON THEIR OWN SHORT TERM SOLUTIONS TO GET WORKERS IN AND OUT MORE EFFICIENTLY. THEY ARE ALSO PUSHING FOR BIG CHANGES, TO CREATE THIS RAIL LINE ACROSS THE CHARLES TO A NEW HUB, PLANNED FOR VACANT LAND. >> IF WE DO NOT CONTINUE TO EVOLVE AND PLAN FOR THE FUTURE AND INTENTIONALLY STAY ON THE CUTTING EDGE, WE WILL BECOME A HAS-BEEN. >> AND ANOTHER POSSIBLE SOLUTION, ADDING SOMETHING CALLED A LUXURY LANE TO A MAJOR HIGHWAY. GOVERNOR BAKER SAYS HE IS OPEN TO LOOKING TO THE IDEA. SO WHAT IS THE LANE LIKE THAT COST THE DRIVERS? >> IT IS BASED ON SUPPLY AND DEMAND SO THE PRICE IS THE HIGHEST WHEN TRAFFIC IS HEAVIEST. FOR EXAMPLE WASHINGTON DC, THE AVERAGE MORNING COMMUTE, THE

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Something needs to be done and done fast. That's what we heard from every commuter interviewed for our "State of Gridlock" special report, and most experts said they are right.Choking congestion on roads and a failing public transit system threaten to short-circuit the state’s booming economy, not to mention drive every commuter around the bend.Take, for example, the MBTA's 111 bus. It's the transportation lifeline for 12,000 commuters into and out of Boston each day, but the 111 is chronically overcrowded and extremely slow at rush hour, when it’s needed most. “If you’ve ever opened up a can of sardines, they probably have more room in the can than we do on this bus,” said Miguel Dominguez, a 111 regular.We rode with Dominguez from Boston, across the Tobin Bridge and home to Chelsea during the evening rush hour. The two-mile trip took 45 minutes. “You could walk over the Tobin Bridge faster than taking this bus,” said Chris Dempsey, executive director of the nonprofit group Transportation for Massachusetts. Dempsey said this is just one example of the gridlock that threatens to paralyze the region.“We don’t just have a problem, we have the worst traffic congestion in the entire country and a transit system that is failing people on a day-to-day basis,” he said.But Dempsey also said that can change quickly if leaders on Beacon Hill will open their minds to cutting-edge transit and traffic solutions already succeeding in other states. What can reasonably be done about gridlock in Massachusetts? 5 Investigates went to political leaders and transportation experts to find the solutions they think could work the best and fastest.Solution No. 1: Smarter TollingCharge people more to drive during rush hour than at less busy times of the day.“(If) we take a small number of cars off the road, we can get a really big impact,” Dempsey said. “The rough rule of thumb is that getting 5% of cars off the road at rush hour creates a 20% reduction in congestion in traffic.”Solution No.2: Dedicated bus lanesThey are working well in Everett, moving people faster and more efficiently by creating special lanes that allow the buses to bypass heavy traffic.If bus transportation is significantly improved, experts said, more people will use it, which will result in fewer cars on the roads. Solution No. 3: Modernize the MBTAGov. Charlie Baker said that’s fully underway with more than $1 billion budgeted for next year.“If people want to solve this they should follow our capital plan and support it, which is 100,000 new seats on the rapid transit system and thousands of new seats on the commuter rail system,” Baker told 5 Investigates.Plans for the MBTA also call for state-of-the-art signals and switches, new track and power systems and adding more double-decker trains to the commuter rail. “The issue here is figuring out a way to make the investments to increase capacity to improve reliability and predictability and to get it done at the same time you continue to move roughly a million people a day across the system,” the governor said.Solution No. 4: New housing near rail stops“We should be looking at building housing and even jobs near all of our rapid transit lines and all of our commuter rail stops across the state,” Dempsey said.In Newtonville, for example, a whole block of new housing units is going up right across from the Commuter Rail stop. Similar construction is happening near other transit points around metro Boston.“If we can give people the option of leaving their car at home and instead getting on a bus or getting on a train or even walking to work, then we’ve got a system that will work much more efficiently,” Dempsey said. There is a lot at stakeEntrepreneurs in the Kendall Square neighborhood of Cambridge have created one of the engines fueling the state’s steady economic growth. But instead of focusing on research and development, the entrepreneurs there find themselves increasingly concerned about transportation.“Kendall Square is the epicenter of the global innovation community,” said C.A. Webb, who heads the Kendall Square Association. “We are quite literally looking for the cure for cancer, but too many of us instead of being at their desk or at the lab bench searching for that cure are instead sitting in traffic.”Webb said CEOs of Kendall Square businesses are concerned congestion and problems with the MBTA will drive companies and employees out of Massachusetts.That is why they are now working on their own short-term solutions to get workers in and out more efficiently and at the same time, pushing for big changes, such as using an existing rail line to create a direct connection from Kendall Square, across the Charles River, to a new transit hub called "West Station" planned for vacant land in Allston.“If we don’t continue to evolve and plan for the future and very intentionally stay on the cutting edge, we will become a has-been,” Webb said.