Dallas once again tops Houston on a national ranking list only this time it’s not such a good thing.
An outfit called Inrik today released its fourth annual Inrik National Traffic Scorecard ranking the worst afternoon commute times in the country, as alluded to by the word “national” in the list’s name.
According to the survey, Dallas drivers spend 36 percent more time stuck in traffic at 5:15 p.m. weekdays than it normally would take to complete an average trip any other time of day or night. The list does not describe an “average trip,” but it’s probably something like Plano to downtown.
Still, that 36 percent increase in commute time places Dallas fifth among the 10 worst commutes in the United States. Houston, at a 33 percent increase, came in at No. 7, so Dallas is better at being worse in this regard.
Los Angeles tops the bad list with a 71 percent spike in average commute times at 5:30 p.m., which, of course, is 7:30 p.m. here, but that doesn’t make any difference now does it?
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A closer look at the list reveals some incongruities. Besides the apples-to-later-apples comparisons of 5:15 in some cities and 5:30 in others, Inrik lists Seattle as having the 10th worst average afternoon commute even though the drive time increases by 49 percent, and while I’m no math major I’m pretty sure 49 is > than 36.
Bruce Felps owns and operates East Dallas Times, an online community news outlet serving the White Rock Lake area. His average commute time is about three minutes any time day or night. That’s because he rarely leaves the confines of his well-rounded neighborhood.
