How bad traffic really is in Atlanta and what it cost

“The congestion recession is starting to be over”, says Bill Eisele with the institute, “In Michigan, in both Detroit and Grand Rapids, we’re starting to approach some of the congestion levels that we saw right before the recession hit”.

Leading the pack in gridlock misery was Washington, D.C., beating out stalwarts that include New York and Los Angeles.

It could be worse. The city is followed by other congested towns like Los Angeles, San Franciso, New York and San Jose. The following year, almost all cities – 95 out of 101 – experienced greater congestion.

Findings in the 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard are drawn from traffic speed data collected by INRIX on 1.3 million miles of urban streets and highways, along with highway performance data from the Federal Highway Administration.

“Nationwide, the average travel delay per commuter is more than twice what it was in 1982”, he said. By 2020, the average delays are expected to grow to 47 hours a year with a total of 8.3 billion hours. Pittsburgh ranked 51st of 101 urban areas in congestion.

The price tag for the delays: $1,130 due to lost time and fuel, the report says.

Its Travel Time Index measures how much longer a trip takes during rush hour compared to free-flow conditions. And the National Safety Council said preliminary data for the first six months of this year shows traffic deaths are up 14 percent, a turnaround after years of fewer fatalities.

085-a-15-(Bill Eisele (EYES’-lee), senior research engineer with Texas A and M Transportation Institute, in AP interview Tuesday)-“hours in 2020″-Bill Eisele, who’s the co-author of the traffic congestion report, says traffic congestion is only projected to get worse unless there are major infrastucture changes”.