Top 10 Commute-Congested Cities
Every day someone in the U.S. is idling in traffic during the commute to or from the office, periodically lifting a foot off the brake pedal to creep forward another 17 inches and the same thought eventually comes up: this must be the worst place for traffic in the world!
The statistics show that if you live in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., or New York City, you may be right. If not, sit back, exhale, and give thanks you don’t live in one of those places as they routinely top the traffic congestion charts across the country.
In terms of the longest average daily commute, New Yorkers captured that honor with an average of 34.9 minutes. Washington D.C. finished a close second at 34.5 minutes. However, the availability and use of public transportation pushed those cities to the down on the top 10 list. This year, the worst cities and their congestion indexes were:
Los Angeles (28.8)
Honolulu (26)
San Francisco (23.5)
Austin, TX (20.7)
New York City (19.9)
Bridgeport, CT (19.1)
San Jose, CA (17.6)
Seattle (17.6)
Washington D.C. (16.4)
Boston (14.7)
Increasing congestion not only frustrates commuters, it has other tangible effects on society, according to the researchers. The 2012 report estimated of the additional carbon dioxide (CO2) emission attributed to traffic congestion: 56 billion pounds – about 380 pounds per auto commuter.
Additionally, the amount of fuel wasted in congested traffic was 2.9 billion gallons – enough to fill the New Orleans Superdome four times. That’s the same as 2010, but short of the 3.2 billion gallons wasted in 2005. The total financial cost of congestion in 2011 was $121 billion, up one billion dollars from the year before and translating to $818 per U.S. commuter. Of that total, about $27 billion worth was wasted time and diesel fuel from trucks moving goods on the system.