Washington Drivers Officially Have the Worst Commute in the Country

Here’s some commuting news that has nothing to do with Metro’s shortcomings for a change: According to a report released Wednesday by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Washington drivers have the worst commute in the US.

The average local motorist wastes 82 hours a year stuck in traffic. Let’s put that in perspective: That’s nearly three-and-a-half days. In that time, you could watch all three seasons of Orange is the New Black–twice. Or you could listen to the entire first season of Serial about ten times.

Washington’s delay is 19 hours more than the average among other similar urban areas. It’s worse than delays in Los Angeles (80 hours), New York (74 hours), and Boston (64 hours.)

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the report says our long commutes are costing us some serious cash. DC ranked first in its category in terms of congestion cost: Last year, local commuters burned through an extra 35 gallons of gas thanks to gridlocks; these lengthy trips cost them a total of $1,834.

San Diego’s drivers, in contrast, only spent 42 hours stuck in traffic, costing them $887 a year.

Emily Codik