Atlanta traffic rated 3rd worst in nation

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/stories/2009/07/08/atlanta_traffic_rank.html?cxtype=ynews_rss

By Ariel Hart
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Officially, Atlanta traffic is not so congested anymore.

Well, honk if you believe that!

An apparent slight drop in traffic reported by the nation’s premier congestion study, released Wednesday, is like a slap in the face to some commuters who say they haven’t noticed anything of the kind. It could be that the good news in the study isn’t so good: The data, collected in 2007, probably reflect a temporary traffic reprieve brought about by rising gas prices. Preliminary 2009 figures from the state Department of Transportation show some of those drivers may be going back to their cars, if prices at the pump will let them.

.....

The report showed the average Atlanta-area commuter wasting 57 hours a year going nowhere in traffic jams. Atlanta had the third-worst congestion in the nation, a better ranking than second-worst two years earlier when drivers wasted 60 hours a year idling. As a whole, the Atlanta area lost more time and money than ever to congestion: a total of 135,335,000 wasted hours in the year of the study, at a record cost of $3 billion.

Los Angeles ranked first. Washington, D.C., which tied with Atlanta for second place last time around, this time rose to second place.

But even in the face of a problem that big, a fix seems miles away.

The state has failed to pass transportation funding two years in a row. [A wonderful benefit of living in a Republican state.] The federal transportation budget has its own problems, and it is expected to go in the red this year, again.