Still, that\u2019s the good news, based on a report by Texas A&M Transportation Institute and INRIX Traffic, answering the question of how much time you spend in traffic.<\/p>\n A typical commuter in a \u201cvery large urban area\u201d such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas or Atlanta is delayed by traffic an average of more than 10 eight-hour workdays a year, according to the 2019 Urban Mobility Report which used data from 2017.<\/p>\n The greatest total of commuting delays among 15 very large urban areas was 119 hours for drivers in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA \u2013 almost 15 eight-hour workdays, or three work weeks, a year \u2013 with the shortest delays, 61 hours, experienced in Detroit, MI, the report said. A very large urban area was described as having a population over 3 million people.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can feel your life slipping away, like sand in an hourglass, when you\u2019re sitting in traffic that long,\u201d said one commuter from Encino who drives to and from work in West L.A. \u201cIt\u2019s almost too painful to think about \u2026 what I could do with that much time \u2013 three weeks!\u201d<\/p>\n Some other very large urban areas and their average annual delay times are:<\/p>\n It\u2019s probably no surprise that the lowest average delay times occurred in small urban areas with less than 500,000 population, although delays still averaged 37 hours a year.<\/p>\n The national average of 54 hours in delays per year has nearly tripled from the 20 hours in 1982.<\/p>\n Following are details from the report on other sizes of urban areas:<\/p>\n Large Urban Areas<\/strong> (1 million to 3 million population) \u2013 Greatest total of commuting delays was 81 hours \u2013 more than 10 eight-hour work days \u2013 in San Jose, CA, with the shortest delays, 35 hours, in Richmond, VA. The average total annual delay in the 32 large urban areas studied was 54 hours.<\/p>\n Medium Urban Areas<\/strong> (500,000 to 1 million population) \u2013 Greatest total of commuting delays was 64 hours \u2013 eight eight-hour work days \u2013 in Honolulu, HI, with the shortest delays, 24 hours, in Bakersfield, CA. The average total annual delay in the 32 medium urban areas studied was 44 hours.<\/p>\n Small Urban Areas<\/strong> (less than 500,000 population) \u2013 Greatest total of commuting delays was 45 hours \u2013 about 5.5 eight-hour work days \u2013 in Boise, ID, with the shortest delays, 14 hours, in Indio-Cathedral City, CA. The average total annual delay in the 22 small urban areas studied was 37 hours.<\/p>\n So, is there hope that you can get out of congested traffic any time soon \u2013 especially in very large cities? Probably not, although experts may keep trying.<\/p>\n \u201cCongestion is a persistently growing problem,\u201d said the report. \u201cThe problem is larger than ever \u2026 [And] anyone who tells you there is a single solution that can solve congestion, be supported and implemented everywhere \u2013 or even in most locations \u2013 is exaggerating the effect of their idea.\u201d<\/p>\n But that hasn\u2019t stopped companies from trying to find the big solution.<\/p> Next: How Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen Group are exploring the use of superfast quantum computing to reduce the amount of time you spend in traffic.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most of us have been there, crawling along in traffic on the way to or from work, thinking about how we would rather be spending that time. But it only seems as though you spend half your life stuck there….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-car-ownership"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Lines](\"https:\/\/santanderconsumerusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/010620-SC-How-much-time-do-you-spend-in-traffic_-Probably-too-much_IMAGE-1.jpg?w=640\")
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