Traffic gets Worse

WASHINGTON - If it seems like more of your time is spent stuck in traffic, you may be right. In cities large and small, the daily struggle with bumper-to-bumper traffic is getting worse.

The average rush-hour driver wasted more than two full days _ about 51 hours _ sitting in traffic in 2001, according to an annual report released Tuesday by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University. That's an increase of four hours in the last five years.

The price tag: $69.5 billion in wasted time and gas, said the study, which looked at 75 urban areas.

"Congestion extends to more time of the day, more roads, affects more of the travel and creates more extra travel time than in the past," the study said.

The report found that the average rush-hour driver in Los Angeles spent about 90 hours waiting in traffic in 2001, far more than anywhere else.

The San Francisco-Oakland area was next at 68 hours, followed by Denver (64), Miami (63) and Chicago and Phoenix, which tied for fifth (61).

Tim Lomax, the study's co-author, said public transportation, traffic signals on freeway entrance ramps and other congestion-busting measures have kept a bad situation from getting even worse. For example, traffic signal coordination aimed at smoothing the flow of cars, trucks and buses saved commuters 16 million hours, the report said.

The study found some areas of the country where gridlock eased. The average delay dropped for commuters in San Antonio, Texas; Fresno, Calif.; and Pensacola, Fla.

Still, more improvements are needed, the report said. Among the recommendations: more roads to handle increased demand, additional bus and car pool lanes, and adjusted work hours for commuters.

In response to criticism about its earlier studies, the institute for the first time factored in improvements that cities are making, such as traffic light coordination and ramp metering, as well as the benefits of public transportation, Lomax said.

Data from the Federal Highway Administration and information from various state and local agencies was analyzed by the researchers to come up with the rankings.

___

The 20 urban areas with heaviest traffic as measured by number of hours of extra travel time for average rush-hour commuter in 2001:

Urban area Number of hours

in congestion

Los Angeles 90

San Francisco-Oakland 68

Denver 64

Miami 63

Chicago 61

Phoenix 61

San Jose, Calif. 60

Boston 58

Washington, D.C. 58

Portland, Ore. 58

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Fla. 57

Seattle-Everett 56

Atlanta 55

San Bernardino-Riverside, Calif. 55

Houston 55

Detroit 54

Minneapolis/St.Paul 53

San Diego 51

Las Vegas 51

Dallas-Fort Worth 51

Source: Texas Transportation Institute