L.A. drivers lose 72 hrs a year

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Los Angeles metropolitan area led the nation in traffic jams in 2005, with rush-hour drivers spending an extra 72 hours a year on average stuck in traffic, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The metropolitan areas of San Francisco-0akland, Washington, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland, and Atlanta were tied for the second most gridlocked areas, according to the study by the Texas Transportation Institute.

Drivers in those three areas spent an extra 60 hours on average during peak periods, defined as 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., the study found.

But drivers in other regions around the country were not much luckier. The report (http://mobility.tamu.edu) found traffic gridlock worsened in all 437 large, medium and small urban centers in 2005.

"What causes congestion? In a word, 'you.' Most of the Mojave Desert is not congested," wrote report authors David Schrank, associate research scientist, and Tim Lomax, research engineer.

The Texas Transportation Institute is an arm of the Texas A&M University System in College Station, Texas.

In the last 20 years, travel has increased by 105 percent in metropolitan areas but road capacity -- measured by freeways and major thoroughfares -- has only risen 45 percent.

Travel by public transportation in 85 urban areas climbed 30 percent in the past two decades.