A traffic report has labeled congestion in Baton Rouge as the worst in the nation among cities with comparable population.
Baton Rouge commuters were delayed an average of 37 hours last year because of traffic congestion, according to the report.
The report derived the average annual delay per commuter by dividing the extra travel time during the year by the number of people who commute in vehicles in the area. The report compares Baton Rouge within a group of “medium sized areas” characterized by having a population between 500,000 and 1 million people.
The 2010 Urban Mobility Report was published by the Texas Transportation Institute based at Texas A&M. The report studied 439 urban areas across the country.
Nationwide, the study found that after the best year this decade for commuters, 2008, traffic problems worsened nationally in 2009.
“After two years of slight declines in overall traffic congestion — attributable to the economic downturn and high fuel prices — leading indicators suggest that as the economy rebounds, traffic problems are doing the same,” the study said. “While 2008 was the best year for commuters in at least a decade, the problem again began to grow in 2009.”
Baton Rouge peak time commuters — those who travel between 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. — wasted an average of $1,030 in fuel because of traffic delays, according to the study.
That is more than double the average for the 33 areas with similar population and still above the $808 national average including the most heavily congested areas such as Chicago, New York and Atlanta. The total cost nationwide for the delays tops $24 billion.
Although most statistics for Baton Rouge were worse than average, the city’s statistics remained stable in total delay per auto commuter and actually improved by $50 dollars in cost to peak auto commuter.
New Orleans fared better in its group of comparable cities with populations between 1 and 3 million. Commuters in the Crescent City spent an average of 31 hours in traffic delays, according to the report. This is on par with the average for its population.
The report also says New Orleans commuters wasted $772 in gasoline last year, $46 above the average for comparable cities.
Chicago was ranked as the nation’s worst for commuters with 70 hours of delays annually. Washington, D.C., was on par with Chicago as the nation’s worst for hours delayed, and the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area came in third with 40 hours of delay per year.
The statistics for money spent on delays mirror the top two cities for delays with $1,738 in cost of congestion per commuter in Chicago.
Baton Rouge is currently undertaking a six-year “Green Light Plan” to improve its roads. As part of the project near campus, East Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden cut the ribbon on a $2.4 million widening of the Perkins Road-South Acadian Thruway intersection last semester.
Students echoed the results of the study when describing their commutes to campus each day.
“They need more lanes, period,” said Courtney Dupuy, history and anthropology junior. “You have many people that are not from the state passing through, and there is an accident every time it rains.”
 
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Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]