Congestion worsening (hardly news, but new data)
The numbers documenting the costs imposed on the US economy by traffic congestion are astounding, as the 2007 Urban Mobility Report produced last week by the Texas Transportation Institute makes graphically clear. $78 billion in economic costs. 4.2 billion lost hours. 2.9 Billion gallons of wasted fuel (enough to fill 58 fully-loaded supertankers).
Unreported in the popular press: 7.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions are generated by motorists idled in congested traffic. Environmentalists have put the pressure on road agencies' ability to add lane miles to keep up with traffic demands. The cost to the economy may not be a front-of-mind thing for them, but air pollution should certainly be -- if the true agenda is pro-environment and not anti-modern lifestyle.
The average driver pays $710 a year and sits in traffic an extra 38 hours this year compared to last year because our highway infrastructure investment continues to lag despite increasing expenditures that have brought the federal Highway Trust Fund to the brink of bankruptcy. Social Security bankruptcy is decades away; Medicaid a bit closer, but the HTF will be bankrupt in 2009 if Congress doesn't act.