By Tom Blanton | Cronkite News Service
Traffic delays in Tucson and Phoenix last year cost the average commuter more than $1,000 in extra fuel and lost time, among other costs, according to a new report on rush-hour congestion on the nation’s highways.
The 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute estimated that commuters in Phoenix spent about 51 hours sitting in traffic, racking up a “congestion cost” of $1,201 last year. Tucson commuters spent an average of 47 hours stuck behind the wheel for a congestion cost of $1,128, the report said.
Phoenix and Tucson finished 13th- and 23rd-worst, respectively, in the nation for traffic. While the metro areas were worst in Arizona, none of the nine regions in the state that were studied by the report were unscathed, with Lake Havasu doing best in at 4 extra hours of idling and a congestion cost of $114 last year.
