Report: Average driver wastes 38 hours per year in traffic

[almaty 19]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Drivers waste nearly an entire work week each year sitting in traffic on the way to and from their jobs, according to a national study released Tuesday.

Traffic backs up on I-495 near Washington last year.

The nation's drivers languished in traffic delays for a total of 4.2 billion hours in 2005, up from 4 billion the year before, according to the Texas Traffic Institute's urban mobility report. That's about 38 hours per driver.

"Things are bad and they're getting worse," said Alan Pisarsky, a transportation expert and the author of "Commuting in America."

"We've used up the capacity that had been bequeathed to us by a previous generation, and we haven't replaced it," Pisarsky said.

The study summed it up this way: "Too many people, too many trips over too short of a time period on a system that is too small."

The study estimates that drivers wasted 2.9 billion gallons of fuel while sitting in traffic. Together with the lost time, traffic delays cost the nation $78.2 billion, the study estimates. See map of most congested areas »

High gasoline prices appear to have cut into optional driving but not commuting to work, said David Schrank, an associate research scientist at the Texas Transportation Institute, which is part of Texas A&M University.

"We're really not seeing drops in the peak travel times," said Schrank, a co-author of the study.

About three-quarters of all commuters drive alone to work, according to census data.

The study provided detailed information on traffic congestion in the nation's 85 largest metropolitan areas.

The Los Angeles metro area had the worst congestion, delaying drivers an average of 72 hours a year. It was followed by Atlanta, Georgia; San Francisco, California; Washington; and Dallas, Texas.

LEAST CONGESTED METRO AREAS

Brownsville, Texas

Spokane, Washington

Akron, Ohio

Anchorage, Alaska

Corpus Christi, Texas

Rochester, New York

Beaumont, Texas

Buffalo, New York

Springfield, Massachusetts

Laredo, Texas The least congested metro areas were Spokane, Washington, and Brownsville, Texas, where drivers were delayed an average of eight hours a year.

The study offers a menu of options for addressing congestion, including adding roads or lanes where needed, improving public transportation and changing driving patterns through flexible work schedules, telecommuting and carpooling.

"The problem has grown too rapidly and is too complex for only one technology or service to be 'the solution' in most regions," the report said.

Atlanta has the second worst congestion in the country, though there has been some improvement, according to the study. In 2005, Atlanta drivers wasted an average of 60 hours a year in traffic delays -- down from 70 hours a decade earlier.

A 2005 task force appointed by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue called for directing more resources toward mitigating traffic congestion in the Atlanta area.

But the region's population is growing so fast that planners are having a tough time dealing with the increase in automobiles, said Jane Hayse, chief of transportation planning for the Atlanta Regional Commission.

"With the pace of growth that we have here, it's pretty difficult to reduce congestion," Hayse said. "Trying to keep it at today's level is really our goal."

The Atlanta metropolitan area added 890,000 people from 2000 to 2006, more than any other metro area in the country, according to census estimates. There were 5.1 million people in the Atlanta area in 2006.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

[mawilson 2,133]

I traffic!

[almaty 19]

I traffic!

i waste about 1 1/2 hours a day on a good day.............

[Mononoke28 135]

I spend about 480 hrs in a year. And that's only counting my work commute.

[almaty 19]

I spend about 480 hrs in a year. And that's only counting my work commute.

i know the feeling..terrible and always you life is measured by the idiot trying to cut you off

[mawilson 2,133]

I traffic!

i waste about 1 1/2 hours a day on a good day.............

It's not a waste if you have good music in your car.

[Peikko 1,575]

20 minutes on the bicycle, lovely!

Some people do enjoy their 'alone' time on the commute though, which is cool

[almaty 19]

I traffic!

i waste about 1 1/2 hours a day on a good day.............

It's not a waste if you have good music in your car.

true..i have some new tunes thanks to some suggestions here

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I traffic!

i waste about 1 1/2 hours a day on a good day.............

I guess I'm a little luckier than you...about 50 minutes each way on a good day, but I'm commuting really far (50 miles).

[almaty 19]

I traffic!

i waste about 1 1/2 hours a day on a good day.............

I guess I'm a little luckier than you...about 50 minutes each way on a good day, but I'm commuting really far (50 miles).

whoa, you make good time..i drive about 25 miles one way through st louis..it takes about 45 minutes

[eau_xplain 2]

I probably average 20 minutes of idling time a day .... that's at STOP signs and traffic lights. Luckily traffic is not that bad where I live and work. I especially like the fact that our office is just a traffic light away from the interstate.

[cartaverde 12]

If the drivers waste 38 hours a year in traffic, that means they waste less than one hour per week. If they drive both from home to work and work to home, that means they waste less than 6 minutes each direction any day.

Considering the commuting distances in California and anyone living in countryside ... I am amazed.

When I used to walk to work, I used to "waste" 45 minutes on walking on any day (incl. to and from work).

Now that I changed the company, I waste 2 hours a day between home and work and back. Of which 25 minutes wasted walking, rest in bus.

2 hours / day = 10 hours / week wasted.

Assuming I work 5 days a week, and have 29 paid days off of which none on weekend, that makes 46 x 10 hours. I waste 460 hours a year between home and work.

[Jasman0717 9]

What do you mean waste hours in traffic. Heck, this is a perfect time for me to catch up on my reading, chat on the phone, surf the Internet, I love heavy traffic and get plenty of it here in SoCal

[cartaverde 12]

And one more thing :

Just how did they calculate which time was wasted and which not??? Since NONE of the time I spend moving from home to work or vice versa is fully usable for active productive work, it is all wasted. Even if I lived at 3 minute walk from work, I would still waste 3 minutes getting from home to work and vice versa. Even that 3 minute walking distance from work ends up in 19 wasted work hours a day, which is 50 % of what the Americans are wasting according to that research.

[almaty 19]

What do you mean waste hours in traffic. Heck, this is a perfect time for me to catch up on my reading, chat on the phone, surf the Internet, I love heavy traffic and get plenty of it here in SoCal

good attitude