Anyone who has driven Evanston’s busy arterial streets knows one thing for sure: They’re an obstacle course.

From constant street construction to severe downtown parking shortages, Evanston drivers face an unending list of transportation impediments. And the problem won’t get any better — the Church Street Plaza will create additional traffic when it opens in November.

That’s why the city joined with Evanston Inventure and several private companies in June to ask the Regional Transportation Authority to help fund a $100,000 study of how mass transit is currently used in Evanston and how it can be used more efficiently, said Ron Kysiak, executive director of Evanston Inventure, an economic planning group.

The yearlong study will be conducted by the Evanston-based planning firm Teska Associates Inc. and will examine the area surrounding the Chicago Transit Authority’s Davis Street Transportation Center, located on Benson Avenue between Church and Davis streets.

The site, along with the Metra Station immediately to the west, is one of the few locations in the region that provides access to bus service and both train lines.

This abundance of public transportation was one of the main incentives for businesses to relocate in Evanston, said Ben Ranney, marketing manager at Arthur Hill & Co.

An 18-screen theater and several new retail shops will open in November. Condominiums, a Hilton hotel and new McDougal Littell corporate headquarters are set to follow.

Kysiak said the firm will provide the city with a “strategic plan to deal with all forms of movement of people and cars” after the study is completed.