By Ranada Robinson, Project Associate.   Everyone who knows me knows that one of my least favorite pastimes is driving in traffic. Any time I have to drive from one area of Atlanta to another, especially if it’s any time between 4:00 pm and 6:30 pm, I’m frustrated and tense by the time I get to my destination. And that’s before I start thinking of what I could have been doing if I had not needed to leave extra early to ensure I get there on time. Luckily, I am able to use public transportation – the MARTA train – to get to and from work.

According to the 2009 Annual Urban Mobility Report published by the Texas Transportation Institute, the average driver wasted $757 due to traffic delays in 2007, accounting for 36 extra hours of travel time and 24 gallons of extra gas. This amounts to a national congestion cost of $87.2 billion—or 4.2 billion additional hours of travel time and 2.8 billion gallons of extra fuel. To quantify what that means for the average urban driver, the report indicates what else can be done with 36 hours—use 5 vacation days, attend close to 13 major league baseball games, or view over 600 online video clips. What would you do with 36 extra hours?

Congestion affects economic development in a couple of ways—it affects a community’s quality of life, which attracts new residents and workers, and it affects businesses, which have to plan around congestion issues. The Texas Transportation Institute recommends a diversified approach to addressing congestion issues, including:

• Making low-cost improvements to existing public traffic management programs,

• Adding capacity in critical corridors by adding road lanes, new streets, and highways and expanding public transportation,

• Encouraging firms to offer flexible work hours and telecommuting to employees in order to change usage patterns,

 
• Providing added travel choices, such as toll lanes for high-speed service,

• Increasing the number of mixed use developments that encourage green commuting options, such as walking, biking, and using public transportation, and

 
• Maintaining realistic expectations, knowing that congestion cannot be completely eliminated.

The following table ranks the top 20 worst communities for annual delays and wasted fuel per traveler. Not surprisingly, the communities shown are categorized as very large urban areas (with over 3 million in population) or large urban area (with between 1 and 3 million in population).