The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) will release the findings of its annual Urban Mobility Report at 12:01 a.m. CST on Thursday. As in the past, the report will present national, regional and local rankings for all 439 U.S. urban areas.
It will also include detailed data on 101 specific urban areas, including:
•Annual travel delay per peak traveler
• Fuel wasted due to traffic delays
• Financial cost of congestion per peak traveler
• Length of rush hour traffic conditions
In addition, this year the report will include expanded estimates of the effects of congestion on the regions studied.
According to TTI, it incorporates a significant advance in study methodology, leveraging real-time traffic data for every major roadway in the U.S. – the result of a partnership with INRIX, a supplier of travel time data.
Each year, the study aims to provide a collection of easily understood measures to support national and local decision-making by helping policymakers understand the congestion problem and how to identify solutions.
According to a 2009 study by INRIX, Los Angeles was the country’s most congested city, followed by New York and then Chicago. Dallas/Fort Worth, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, and Philadelphia also earned top scores for worst traffic congestion.
A July 2009 TTI report showed the overall cost for congestion (based on wasted fuel and lost productivity) reached $87.2 billion in 2007-- or more than $750 for every U.S. traveler. The total amount of wasted fuel topped 2.8 billion gallons-- or three weeks' worth of fuel for every traveler. And the amount of wasted time totaled 4.2 billion hours-- or nearly one full work week (or vacation week) for every traveler.
Sponsors of the TTI-conducted study-- established in 1982-- include TTI, the University Transportation Center for Mobility, the American Road and Transportation Builders Assn. Transportation Development Foundation, and the American Public Transportation Assn..
