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"It's definitely something that came to mind when gas prices came close to four dollars," he said. "But we would have to have serious cutbacks for him not to be able to play." The Texas Transportation Institute analyzed state and Federal Highway Administration data for 439 urban areas. It estimated: The overall cost of U.S. traffic congestion in 2007 reached $87.2 billion, more than $750 for every traveler. The amount of wasted time in traffic totaled 4.2 billion hours, nearly an entire work week for every traveler. After Los Angeles and Washington, the most congested metro areas were Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, Dallas-Forth Worth, San Jose, Calif., and Orlando, Fla. The least congested metros were Lancaster-Palmdale, Calif., and Wichita, Kan., where drivers were delayed an average of six hours a year. The report urged state and federal governments to act now to develop highways or mass transit, since these programs can take 10 to 15 years to complete. It said short-term fixes such as rapidly removing crashed vehicles and timing traffic signals also would help, while employers can offer flexible work hours and telecommuting to reduce travel during traditional rush hours.
The findings come as the Obama administration has signaled that it wants to keep transportation funding at current levels for 18 months, rather than move forward on a proposed six-year, $500 billion bill that would increase highway aid 40 percent and double transit funding. There are questions about how to pay for that. Robert E. Lang, co-director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, said while the recession is altering how many people work, live and travel, that won't be enough to hold back traffic congestion. With the U.S. growing by three million people each year, the nation's aging infrastructure won't be able to keep up without broad upgrades
-- especially once the economy picks up again. "It's the lull before the coming storm," he said. ___ On the Net: Texas Transportation Institute: http://tti.tamu.edu/
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