New study says Seattle-area traffic is bad, and bound to get worse
Feb 5, 2013, 7:52 AM | Updated: 10:22 am
The Urban Mobility Report found in 2011 the average American wasted $818 each year in crawling commutes in cities across the country. (AP Photo/File)
(AP Photo/File)
When it comes to sitting in traffic, Seattle is tied for ninth with Philadelphia in the top ten list of large metro cities, according to a new study.
The Urban Mobility Report found in 2011 the average American wasted $818 each year in crawling commutes in cities across the country.
Washington, D.C. topped the list. Their auto commuters spent on average 67 hours sitting in traffic. Los Angeles and San Francisco followed closely at 61 hours, New York at 59 hours, and Boston at 53 hours of additional time sitting in traffic.
“We’re finding that the congestion problem is very large,” study co-author Bill Eisele told CBS Radio.
Eisele said that congestion in 2011 caused urban Americans to travel 5.5 billion hours more, and to purchase an extra 2.9 billion gallons for fuel.
With the economy recovering, congestion will continue to get worse according to Eisele.
Additionally, it was the first year Eisele’s group started to look at what the congestion meant for the emissions of carbon dioxide. “We found out that it’s 380 pounds per auto-commuter.
As for improving the dismal traffic numbers, Eisele had a few suggestions. “We really need to get as much service as possible from the existing system that we have. Rapidly clearing crashes. Making sure signals are timed so we are hitting the green lights.”
KIRO Radio’s Karen Taylor contributed to this report.
