Did you know the average American spends a week’s worth of vacation time just sitting in traffic…every year? In fact, the time we spend in traffic jams has risen from 14 hours in 1982, to 36 hours in 2007 – wasting a whopping 24 gallons of gasoline, according to the Texas Transportation Institute.
What has caused this spike in hours sitting on the roadways? The issues stem from many problems, dating back to decisions made decades ago. Take for example the flee from cities to suburbs encouraged by years of Federal housing and highway policies. With limited routes in and out of subdivisions, imagine all the traffic that exists from people trying to get to the same place around the same time.
For more on the traffic congestion nightmare, check out this Wall Street Journal editorial.
Tags: average, congestion, federal housing, gasoline, government, highway policies, jam, Joe White, Texas Transportation Institute, traffic, Wall Street Journal, wasted
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