Office of Operations
21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Figure 1: Congestion Trends in U.S. Cities

This table compares increasing traffic congestion levels in the U.S. defined as hours of delay per traveler, in 1982, 1995, and 2005 for small cities (population of less than 500,000), medium cities (population of between 500,000 to 1 million), large cities (population of between 1 million and 3 million) and very large cities (population over 3 million). The table shows approximate hours of delay per traveler increasing between 1982 and 2005 for small cities (from 5 hours to 15 hours), medium cities (from 9 hours to 29 hours), large cities (from 11 hours to 35 hours), and very large cities (from 21 hours to 54 hours).


July 9, 2008
Publication #FHWA-HOP-08-031