“Life is learning how to deal with traffic. It requires patience, a good sense of timing, and sometimes not giving in to the traffic but reshaping your life.” — Frederick Lenz. Traffic is a big deal in the United States. The year 2023 brought some significant changes to this area, varying across different states. The facts that follow show just how American traffic looks this year.
Road Construction, Distance Traveled and Road Safety
The USA’s road construction world continue to grow. In 2020, it produced an output worth $143 billion. This heavy construction activity included revamping old roads and routine maintenance tasks. Fast forward to 2021, figures showed that public highways and street construction projects used up nearly $100 billion of the national budget. US companies like Kiewit are major players in this sector. The nation also boasts two immense highway design firms; AECOM and Jacobs, both contributing significantly. Experts predict growth will continue with a projected total value of $153 billion by 2027 for all road construction activities. On another note, distance traveled by Americans paints an interesting picture, too. According to Fred Economic data, in September 2023 alone the total distance traveled by Americans amounted to approximately 3,221,813 million miles.
Road safety is also a major concern. In 2023, the first three months saw almost 9,330 deaths from traffic crashes in the US according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), that’s fewer than last year by about 3.3%, but still quite high. In such situations, where you get involved in an accident, contacting a personal injury lawyer can be crucial. You’ll find them especially helpful if you are not at fault for a crash. But do take note that laws governing personal injury might vary from state to state or city to city. In these cases contacting the injury lawyer for your specific city and state is of vital importance. For instance, if you live in Mesa, Arizona, then contacting a Mesa personal injury lawyer is recommended. These lawyers can help get you the compensation owed and ensure those responsible face justice for your injuries. It’s both their duty and specialty to assist individuals who have suffered due to others’ negligence on roadways.
How Much Time and Money an Average American Spends in Traffic
Another focus area within the road traffic field is time and money. A surprising revelation from Ridester unveils that the usual commute time for Americans sits at around 52.2 minutes daily to and from work. This sums up to a staggering 4.35 hours each week, consumed by commuting alone. When considering costs involved in commuting across America, it averaged towards $8,4665 annually with congestion costing drivers approximately $869 in lost time – displaying an increase by $305 compared to last year statistics.
The Inrix Global Scorecard verified that states having lengthier commutes witnessed an annual loss exceeding 100 hours per driver, with over $1,500 expenditure due to congestion. It gets steeper when focusing on major cities; for instance Chicago topping at approximately $2,618 spent per driver on commute during a year, followed closely by Boston at $2,270 and New York City coming third with $1,976. Higher fuel prices led to increased expenses on gas for commuters – adding extra $129 annually. Americans do spend quite a hefty percentage as high as 16% of their earnings on commuting which averages into monthly cost roughly about $813.
There are some noteworthy points, such as more roads were built, there were fewer accidents in relation to the previous year, although commute time did get a bit longer for many Americans. Yet, despite all these changes taking place over time, one thing stayed constant – people continued spending too much of their time and money stuck in traffic.
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