Study shows drivers spending less time in traffic
Cars congest the 10 Highway in Los Angeles, in this file photo.
Drivers are spending less time sitting in traffic for the second straight year. It’s the first two-year decline since records have been kept. KPCC’s Steve Julian has more.
The study by Texas A&M’s Transportation Institute shows that, in 2007, Los Angeles traffic remained the worst in the nation: 70 wasted hours a year, down from 72. Washington DC claimed the number two spot, bumping Atlanta down a notch. Houston, Las Vegas, Charlotte, and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina saw traffic remain as bad or got worse – victims of a fast-growing population where roads aren’t getting any wider.
The study indicates the average U.S. driver sat in rush-hour traffic for just over 36 hours in 2007. That’s down from a peak of 37.4 hours in 2005. The records go back a quarter century. Demographers say the historic cutback came as people took fewer trips by themselves, choosing to carpool when gas prices jumped to $4 a gallon and the economy faltered. They also say it won’t last.
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