Texas A&M Study Finds Traffic Jams Are Costing Motorists Billions

An annual study conducted by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute shows driving patterns of Americans adds up to $5.5 billion a year.

The study released the Tuesday found Americans are adapting to road congestion by allowing, on average, an hour to make a trip that would take 20 minutes without traffic.

The Urban Mobility Report also says clogged roads cost Americans $121 billion in time and fuel in 2011.

The new report from the A&M Transportation Institute found that Americans wasted an average of $818 each sitting in traffic in 2011. That also meant more carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere.

The 10 most congested cities are Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, New York-Newark, Boston, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle.

The report is one of the key tools used by experts to solve traffic problems. But the institute advises that every community has unique challenges and require different, multi-faceted approaches to solving congestion.