If you’ve been thinking that traffic is getting worse in D.C., you may not just be imagining it.
“Washington, D.C. has seen a significant increase in congestion over the last year,” said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX, which publishes the annual Global Traffic Scorecard. “It’s ranking eighth in the United States in terms of traffic.”
That’s up from 13th last year.
They also assessed just how much time you are losing while sitting in traffic. On average, D.C. drivers lost 83 hours to traffic congestion last year.
“That equates to nearly $1,400. This is taking the federal government’s value of time,“ Pishue said.
Making things worse is fuel costs, which have been up.
“What we figured is that the typical commuter spent $850 in fuel costs,” Pishue said, “That’s up from $650 in 2021, which overall means a little more than a $200 increase in commuting just due to the price of fuel.”
He said one good note is that the price of gas is going down, and those numbers should decrease this year.
Another side effect of the increased congestion is crashes. Pishue said the number of crashes is higher; but most seem to be fender benders, and they are less severe in terms of injuries.
Although congestion is worse, it’s not as bad as it was before COVID-19; it’s just rebounding after a few years of low traffic during the pandemic.
“D.C. has seen a comeback in that sense, and really, most of that is in the morning commute,” Pishue said.
You can see INRIX’s full report here.
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