Last year, Americans avoided an estimated 47.5 million trips because of highway congestion, according to a U.S. Travel Association survey.
Nearly a quarter of Americans avoided at least one overnight trip, and almost a third avoided at least one day trip because of the likelihood of road congestion.
The decision not to travel cost the national economy $30 billion in travel spending and 248,000 jobs, the association’s economists estimate. Travel demand drops by an average of approximately 18 percent for each additional hour traffic adds to a weekend trip.
Congestion delays make destinations “feel” farther away, according to data from INRIX “Roadway Analytics.” The 223-mile trip from New York City to Washington, D. C., should take three hours and 11 minutes at 68 miles per hour, but congestion often stretches the trip to five hours. This is the equivalent of adding 643 miles to the trip.
“The infrastructure discussion tends to grind to a political halt when it turns to resources, so we tested the funding question with polling,” Roger Dow, U.S. Travel Association president and CEO, said. “The interesting thing we found is that Americans are willing to pay more as long as their money is explicitly used to improve transportation in their region.”