Traffic Congestion Is Worsening, Study Says
.S. traffic congestion is getting worse, costing millions of hours in lost time and millions of dollars in wasted fuel, according to a study released Monday.
Congestion delayed travelers 79 million more hours and wasted 69 million more gallons of fuel in 2003 than in 2002, according to the Texas Transportation Institute's 2005 Urban Mobility Report released Monday.
Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters said in a statement that the report “offers more proof that surface transportation reauthorization is long overdue.”
Urban areas are not adding enough capacity, improving operations or managing demand well enough to keep congestion from growing," it concluded.
Honolulu became the 51st city in which rush-hour traffic delayed the average motorist at least 20 hours a year. It joined such congested areas as Washington, Atlanta, Boston and Chicago.
