Drivers Lose More Than Week of Work to Traffic Delays

The average rush-hour driver sits in traffic the equivalent of more than a week of work a year, according to a new report.

After analyzing 75 U.S. urban areas from New York City to cities with populations of 100,000, the annual Urban Mobility Report announced drivers in rush hour traffic waste about 62 hours a year idling or creeping along. Assuming an eight-hour workday, that means nearly eight workdays a year spent on traffic delays.

The city with the longest delays during rush hour is Los Angeles, at 136 hours.

The report also measured cities according to a Travel Time Index, which looked at how much slower a particular trip takes during rush hour compared with the same trip driven when traffic is flowing freely. Los Angeles topped that list, too. The study said a rush hour trip in Los Angeles takes an average 90 percent longer than the same trip during a non-rush hour period.

Those delays are costly. In 2000, the total cost for the 75 areas studied is nearly $68 billion. That’s based on 3.6 billon hours of delay and nearly 5.7 billion gallons of excess fuel consumed.

Cities with Longest Delays

1. Los Angeles: 136 hours
2. San Francisco-Oakland: 92 hours
3. Washington: 84 hours
4. Seattle: 82 hours
5. Houston: 75 hours
6. Dallas-Fort Worth: 74 hours
7. San Jose, Calif.: 74 hours
8. New York: 73 hours
9. Atlanta: 70 hours
10. Miami: 69 hours
11. Boston: 67 hours
12. Chicago: 67 hours
13. Denver: 67 hours
14. Orlando, Fla.: 66 hours
15. San Bernadino, Calif.: 64 hours
16. Austin: 61 hours
17. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: 61 hours
18. Phoenix: 59 hours
19. Detroit: 55 hours
20. Minneapolis-St. Paul: 54 hours
21. San Diego: 51 hours
22. Baltimore: 50 hours
23. Charlotte, N.C.: 47 hours

Cities with Most Traffic

1. Los Angeles
2. San Francisco-Oakland
3. Chicago
4. Washington
5. Seattle
6. Miami
7. Boston
8. San Jose, Calif.
9. Denver
10. New York
11. Phoenix
12. Portland, Ore.
13. Houston
14. Minneapolis-St. Paul
15. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
16. San Diego
17. Atlanta
18. Las Vegas
19. San Bernadino, Calif.
20. Detroit
21. Dallas-Fort Worth
22. Sacramento, Calif.
23. Orlando, Fla.
24. Baltimore
25. Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

Source: Texas Transportation Institute