A new report said Houston has leapt into the Top 10 when it comes to worst traffic in the United States.
HOUSTON — The City of Houston is once again climbing national rankings, but it’s on a list where ranking high is not a good thing.
A new report said Houston has leapt into the Top 10 when it comes to worst traffic in the United States.
The report moved Houston from 11th to 7th for the worst traffic congestion.
Long commutes and traffic jams have seemingly been getting worse, according to Houston drivers.
“It does not surprise me (that Houston) jumped from 11 to 7. You know why? Because there’s a lot of people coming from different states,” one driver said.
The numbers back it up. The average commute time is just under 30 minutes, and the average weekday congestion time is about 5 hours and 48 minutes.
Daniel Potter at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University said this year’s survey found that respondents in Harris County ranked traffic as their fourth-biggest problem.
“This year’s report, we saw a definite surge in the number of respondents that were labeling traffic as the No. 1 concern,” Potter said.
Survey-takers in Montgomery County and Fort Bend County ranked traffic as their No. 1 concern.
Potter said that surveys over previous years also had traffic as a high-ranking concern.
“In addressing that challenge, we’ve seen highways increased, we’ve seen lanes added, we’ve seen new roads built, and we still find ourselves in this situation,” Potter said.
Potter said survey-takers agreed that there are few alternatives, such as a robust public transportation system, but with a growing population, city and county officials, as well as taxpayers, can stay on the same road or seek a different path for the future.