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Boston Traffic Sixth Worst In Country, Study Finds

BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Commuters in Boston lose an average of 64 hours a year to rush-hour slowdowns, a new study finds.

Read: Boston Results (.pdf)

The average American driver spends 42 hours a year in traffic, according to the report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and INRIX Inc., which analyzes traffic data.

Read: Survey Results (.pdf)

Traffic is the worst in Washington, D.C., where commuters sit in 82 hours of gridlock a year.

Los Angeles (80 hours), San Francisco (78 hours), New York (74 hours), and San Jose (67 hours) round out the top five.

Boston (64 hours) came in sixth nationwide.

Seattle (63 hours), Chicago (61 hours), Houston (61 hours) and Riverside-San Bernardino, California (59 hours) were in the bottom half of the top 10.

Overall, Americans experienced 6.9 billion hours of traffic delays in 2014 compared to 6.6 billion in 2007 and 1.8 billion in 1982.

If the economy remains strong, congestion will continue to worsen, the report projects.

In the next five years, the annual delay per commuter would grow from 42 to 47 hours and the total delay nationwide would grow from 6.9 billion hours to 8.3 billion hours, researchers estimated.

The findings are based on federal data about how many cars are on the roads and on traffic speed data collected by INRIX on 1.3 million miles of urban streets and highways.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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