The average Pittsburgh commuter saw $889 go up in a cloud of exhaust smoke last year because of traffic congestion, a new national report concluded.
The 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard, compiled by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and Inrix, a traffic monitoring company, said the average Pittsburgh commuter wasted 39 hours while stuck in traffic last year and burned 21 additional gallons of gasoline.
The total congestion cost is a measure of time lost and gasoline measured.
While Pittsburgh's numbers were bad, they were better than the national averages of 42 hours and $960 wasted in traffic, according to the report, which was issued today. Pittsburgh ranked 51st of 101 urban areas in congestion.
The authors said the nation's "traffic congestion recession" has ended and congestion has returned to and surpassed levels seen before the economic downtown. U.S. Department of Transportation data showed that Americans drove more than 3 trillion miles in the past year, surpassing a record set in 2007, before the economy slumped.
By 2020, the number of hours wasted in traffic for the typical U.S. driver will rise to 47, they said.
"The U.S. needs more roadway and transit investment to meet the demands of population growth and economic expansion, but added capacity alone can’t solve congestion problems. Solutions must involve a mix of strategies, combining new construction, better operations and more transportation options as well as flexible work schedules," the researchers said.
First Published: August 26, 2015, 2:02 p.m.
