Traffic scorecard study: Los Angeles gridlock second worst in nation

The annual report takes a look at traffic in more than 400 cities and towns across the nation.

Cities with fast-growing economies and probably the most job progress are probably the most suffering from visitors.

Wichita drivers were delayed an average 35 total hours a year ago during morning and afternoon rush hours. Commuters should be given more options, and road lanes, train tracks and bus routes should increase capacity.

“If nothing is done to improve the transportation system, and everything stays the same, it’s clear that we can’t have goals of both high economic activity and low congestion”, he said.

He added that this year’s mobility report predicts urban roadway congestion will continue to get worse without more assertive approaches on the project, program, and policy fronts. Commuters in Houston and Dallas-Forth Worth waste 61 hours and 53 hours per year, respectively. The study said that, if transportation spending is not increased, the average metropolitan area household will be stuck in congestion for 69 hours a year by 2040 – triple the time in 2010.

Commuters in Washington, D.C., suffer the most, losing an average of 82 hours a year to rush-hour slowdowns, the study finds.

The report drew its finding from data collected by Inrix on 1.3 million miles of urban streets and highways, in addition to Federal Highway Administration performance data.

“In 2014, congestion caused urban Americans to travel an extra 6.9 billion hours and purchase an extra 3.1 billion gallons of fuel for a congestion cost of $160 billion”. The “worst” highway in the country is US 101 in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. Drivers in that area spent about 74 hours in traffic delays and wasted about 35 gallons of fuel.

“Our growing traffic problem is too massive for any one entity to handle”, said Tim Lomax, a report co-author and Regents fellow at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute on Tuesday.

“We’re always on the brink of destruction when it comes to the federal funding scenario, Nursick said”.

-About 40 % of delays happen in noon and in a single day hours, making it harder to keep away from delays by avoiding commuter rush hours.

-The price of congestion to the typical auto commuter was $960 in misplaced time and gasoline in 2014, in comparison with an inflation-adjusted $400 in 1982. The number of drivers typically rises with an economic expansion.