Washington D.C. tops list of most congested cities in U.S., study says

HOUSTON, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Washington D.C. tops the list of the most congested cities in the U.S., according to a study released Tuesday.

After Washington D.C., the most congested cities in the country are Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland, New York-Newark, Boston, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle, according to the annual study by the Texas A&M transportation institute.

The report found that Americans wasted an average of 818 U.S. dollars each sitting in traffic in 2011. Fuel wasted in congested traffic reached a total of 2.9 billion gallons in 2011.

"As bad as traffic jams are, it's even more frustrating that you cannot depend on traffic jams being consistent from day-to-day. This unreliable travel is costly for commuters and truck drivers moving goods," said Bill Eisele, co-author of the report.

Researchers said 2005 remains the worst year recorded for traffic congestion, but warned that recent improvement may be directly related to the recession. As the country's economy picks up again, so might road congestion, they said.

The Texas A&M transportation institute uses 30 years of traffic data, and its annual reports are one of the key tools used by experts to solve traffic problems.

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