Minnesota commuters spent 45 hours stuck in traffic in 2010

Fox 9 News
By Tim Blotz
September 27, 2011

If it seems like you are spending hours stuck in traffic -- it's because you are. A new nation-wide traffic congestion study conducted by the Texas Traffic Institute has found the traffic in Minnesota is among the worst in the nation.

The study raises the red flag on metros, such as the Twin Cities, and it comes with a warning: Do something now, or congestion will only skyrocket when the economy recovers and people go back to work.

Researchers collected vehicle speed data from GPS units and mobile devices across the nation and crowd-sourced the data. Using those tools, they determined that Minnesota commuters spent 45 hours stuck in traffic in 2010.

That number ranks the Twin Cities as the 10th worst metropolitan area in the country for traffic, though the metro is tied with Dallass-Fort Worth.

The study also found that congestion in Minnesota causes drivers to burn an extra 20 gallons of gas each year, which puts Minnesota at the 12th worst in the nation, according to the study.

Perhaps the bleakest number the study found is that the extra traffic time taps the pocketbook to the tune of $913 each year.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation was not surprised by those numbers and said -- in some ways -- they are encouraging because it mirrors their own data that shows congestion has dropped, especially in the past five years.

Still, there are not big enough budgets to build more lanes and more roads, so MnDOT is tackling the problem by making better use of the roads we already have. Continue Reading

 

The 2011 Urban Mobility Report, published by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, illustrates congested conditions in 2010 on a number of levels:

• The amount of delay endured by the average commuter was 34 hours, up from 14 hours in 1982.
• The cost of congestion is more than $100 billion, nearly $750 for every commuter in the U.S.
• “Rush hour” is six hours of not rushing anywhere.
• Congestion is becoming a bigger problem outside of “rush hour,” with about 40 percent of the delay occurring in the mid-day and overnight hours, creating an increasingly serious problem for businesses that rely on efficient production and deliveries.

The economic recession has only provided a temporary respite from the growing congestion problem. When the economic growth returns, the average commuter is estimated to see an additional 3 hours of delay by 2015 and 7 hours by 2020. By 2015, the cost of gridlock will rise from $101 billion to $133 billion – more than $900 for every commuter, and the amount of wasted fuel will jump from 1.9 billion gallons to 2.5 billion gallons – enough to fill more than 275,000 gasoline tanker trucks.