Afternoon Poll: How Do You Deal With the Nation’s Worst Commute?

We’re trying here in the D.C. Metro area. Public transportation. Ride sharing. Telecommuting.

No matter, we’re still No. 1 — in commuting time.

A new report produced by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) shows drivers waste more than 3 billion gallons of fuel and were stuck in their cars for nearly 7 billion extra hours — 42 hours per rush hour commuter — in the last year.

Washington, D.C. tops the list of gridlocked cities, with 82 hours of delay per commuter, followed by Los Angeles (80 hours), San Francisco (78 hours), New York (74 hours), and San Jose (67 hours).

TTI says the problem has become so bad that drivers in the worst areas have to plan more than twice as much travel time as they would need to arrive on time in light traffic just to account for the effects of irregular delays such as bad weather, collisions, and construction zones. Anyone who has driven I-66 on a rainy day can attest to that.

So how do you deal with your commute? Take our poll and tell us more in the comments.