Boston #5 In Survey of Most Traffic Congested Cities
BOSTON (CBS) - Boston is one of the ten most traffic-congested cities in the country, coming in at number five in a new survey.
According to the Transportation Institute at Texas A & M University, Washington, DC is number one.
Check: Traffic Update
The institute's annual Urban Mobility Report says Americans spent more than five billion hours sitting in traffic in 2011.
Check: Boston area results (.pdf)
But we are adapting.
The report says, on average, we're allowing an hour for a trip that would take twenty minutes without traffic.
Massachusetts Transportation Administrator Frank DePaola isn't surprised that Boston is number 5.
"Massachusetts is not like a lot of the Midwest. We don't have a lot of room for building new roads or additional roads," he says.
He says there are plans for improvement, including more widening of I-95 south of Boston, which is expected to be done in a couple years. He says open toll roads are expected in three years.
The governor is also asking for 320 million dollars to improve the cloverleaf between I-95 and I-93 in Woburn.
"We're looking to address chronic congestion locations," says DePaola.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
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According to the institute, clogged roads cost Americans $121 billion in time and fuel.
WBZ-TV's Christina Hager contributed to this report.
