The Cost of Traffic Congestion

HIGHWAY-ROBBERY Nationwide THE REAL COST OF TRAFFIC JAMS Insurance THE STATE OF THE INTERSTATE If placed end-to-end, the public U.S. roadways would stretch 4 million miles- long enough to circle the Earth 160 times. The U.S. collectively drives about 3 trillion miles annually-a spaceship traveling at the speed of light would take about 6 months to cover the same distance. CONGESTION: DRIVING FAST IN THE SLOW L ANE 5 Top 5 Most Congested Urban Areas in the U.S. Average hours of annual delay per commuter TRAVEL TIP When planning a road trip, try to avoid urban areas during peak travel times. You may save hours by driving a few miles out of your way to avoid a big city. CAUSES oOF ROAD CONGESTION Bottlenecks 40% A Traffic incidents 25% Bad weather 15% Work zones 10% E Poor traffic signal timing 5% * Special events/other 5% TRAVEL TIP TRAVEL TIP Traffic gets progressively worse from Monday to Friday. Saturdays and Sundays typically have less delay than any weekday, so plan trips during the weekend when possible. Congestion usually takes a dip during the hotter months, so start planning that summer road trip. I TRAVEL TRENDS Average hours of freeway congestion per day JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOv DEC 2011 2009 2007 THE BOTTOM LINE: CONGESTION COSTS MONEY Traffic jams don't just make you late, they cost you money. According to the Texas Transportation Institute, each hour stuck in traffic costs about $21 in wasted time and fuel. Here's a look at the real cost of traffic congestion: COUNTRY-WIDE COST OF CONGESTION 1.9 billion gallons of fuel were wasted due to road congestion - more than five days' worth of the total daily fuel consumption in the United States. 34 The average urban commuter is stuck in traffic for 34 hours hrs/yr every year. $$$$$$$$$$$ That's longer than it would take to drive from The average yearly cost to each driver is $713 - more than a week's wages for the average American. Bangor, Maine, to Key West, Florida. TRAVEL TIP Peak travel time and rush hour mean the same thing: try to stay off of major highways or consider taking public transportation from 7:00-10:00 a.m. and 4:00-7:00 p.m. during the week to avoid 60 percent of road congestion. Sources: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2009/ http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/congestion_report/ http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12019/ http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/ http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/mobility-report-2011.pdf http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-0000 https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=bangor,+maine&daddr=Key+West,+FL&hl=en&sll=44.042193,-68.843079&sspn=1.5 16275,2.507629&geocode=FZ6cqwldqojm-ym9KREQRkuuTDF3dq-nsBgJTQ%3BFbawdgEdwRgg-Y1315WENLHRIDFEO0Z 3L-nOPw&t=h&mra=Is&z=5 http://205.254.135.7/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=23&t=1o Washington D.c. 74 Chicago, IL 71 Los Angeles, CA 64 Houston, TX 57 New York, NY 54