[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/EW-04-17-13-Traffic-Congestion.mp3|titles=EW 04-17-13 Traffic Congestion]
The Texas A&M Transportation Institute has been studying traffic patterns in the U.S. for more than thirty years. They recently issued their annual Urban Mobility Report and the results are eye-opening.
Most of us are well aware that traffic congestion is a big problem. Many of us contend with long delays in our daily commutes and shopping trips.
According to the report, in 2011, being stuck in traffic wasted 5.5 billion hours and cost $121 billion in delay and fuel costs. The average commuter spent nearly an entire workweek in traffic delays. And in some places, like Washington DC, Los Angeles, and New York City, commuting delays were much higher.
This year’s report looked at the energy and environmental impacts of congestion in much greater detail than in previous years. Traffic congestion accounted for 2.9 billion gallons of wasted gasoline. This is the equivalent to having more than 5 million extra cars on the road – all of them going nowhere. And burning all that extra fuel released 56 billion pounds of extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Traffic congestion is a quality of life issue, an economic issue, and an environmental issue. It will take a diversified set of solutions to tackle it. Providing additional traffic capacity in critical corridors, providing efficient and effective mass transport, and changing how we develop our urban and suburban spaces, are all strategies that we must pursue to make progress in combating this scourge of the modern age.
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Web Links
The 2012 Urban Mobility Report
Photo, taken on June 1, 2008, courtesy of Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.