Traffic Congestion and Long Commutes Cost us Dearly in Time and Fuel

News flash!  You waste more gas with traffic congestion and long commutes.  But just how much are we spending in time and fuel with all this idling time?

Wasting time, wasting money in your daily commute

The results of a study conducted by Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University may surprise you.  Looking at figures from the 2010 Urban Mobility Report, congestion forced Americans to spend an additional 4.8 billion hours on the roadways.  All that time translates to an extra 3.9 billion gallons of fuel, at a total cost of $115 billion.  This is over and above the price we are already paying for gas just to get around.  For each American, clogged roadways means an average of an extra 34 hours a year, just sitting in their car.  And an additional $808 in fuel costs.

Does this look familiar?

The figures published by the Texas Transportation Institute were only averages.  If you live in Washington D.C. or Chicago, you are wasting close to two work weeks idling in traffic, to the tune of over $1700 in additional gas costs.  Rounding out the top five worst regions when it comes to traffic congestion and long commutes are Los Angeles/Long Beach, Houston, and San Francisco-Oakland.  You’ll spend between 50-70 hours in your vehicle just getting to and from work!

What does the future hold?  More people and more vehicles.  Which causes the need for better roads, public transit and other facilities to minimize impact on roadways and reduce traffic congestion.  With improving economic conditions, more people will be heading out, as well.

Stop the Commute Madness!

The Mobility Report recommends the following diversified approach to reducing traffic congestion – one that focuses on more of everything. Their strategies include:

• Get as much use as possible out of the transportation system we have.
• Add roadway and public transportation capacity in the places where it is needed most.
• Change our patterns, employing ideas like ridesharing and flexible work times to avoid traditional “rush hours.”
• Provide more choices, such as alternate routes, telecommuting and toll lanes for faster and more reliable trips.
• Diversify land development patterns, to make walking, biking and mass transit more practical.
• Adopt realistic expectations, recognizing for instance that large urban areas are going to be congested, but they don’t have to stay that way all day long.