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Table 15
Roadway Hours of Delay and Congestion Cost per Person in 75 Metropolitan Areas: 1990 and 2000

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Annual Roadway Delay per Person

(Hours per year)

  1990 delay per person 2000 delay per person Percentage change 1990-2000 Annual growth rate 1990-2000
Very large areas 28 35 24 2.2
Large areas 12 22 88 6.5
Medium areas 6 14 120 8.2
Small areas 4 7 88 6.5
75-area average 19 27 40 3.4

Estimated Annual Congestion Cost per Person

(Current dollars)

  1990 cost per person 2000 cost per person Percentage change 1990-2000 Annual growth rate 1990-2000
Very large areas 388 648 67 5.3
Large areas 169 424 151 9.6
Medium areas 88 273 210 12.0
Small areas 40 115 188 11.1
75-area average 267 507 90 6.6

Note: Very large = over 3 million population (e.g., New York-northern NJ) Large = 1 million-3 million population (e.g., Atlanta) Medium = selected areas with 500,000-1 million population (e.g., Memphis) Small = selected areas under 500,000 population (e.g., Colorado Springs) TTI estimates delay indirectly by using traffic volumes and methodology developed by the Federal Highway Administration for estimating the effects of roadway incidents. TTI estimates cost by taking into account fuel cost, value of time, and commercial vehicle operating cost.

Source: Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), 2002 Urban Mobility Report (College Station, TX: 2002), "Mobility Data" spreadsheet available at http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/study/mobility_data, as of December 2002.