According to a report from Texas A&M’s Transportation Institute, the industry as a whole shared a burden of about $27 billion in 2011 in time and fuel lost to congestion on the country’s roads and highways.
The total cost of congestion to the entire U.S. was $121 billion — about $818 per U.S. driver.
Texas A&M’s report — the Urban Mobility Report — was introduced primarily to offer travelers a gauge of how long it will take them to get from Point A to Point B, called the Planning Time Index.
It also ranked the nation’s most congested cities. Washington, D.C., topped the list, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, New York-Newark and Boston. Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle rounded out the list.
As the job market improves, the report says, congestion may worsen.
