Drivers on the Maryland stretch of the Capital Beltway have something new to complain about: Their morning commute is the third-most-sluggish in the nation. A new study from the Texas Transportation Institute shows that morning drivers on the 6.3-mile stretch on Interstate 495 from Route 1/Baltimore Avenue to Route 97/Georgia Avenue suffer through 1.8 million hours of delays every year, costing the region about $38 million in lost productivity and wasted gas.
Commuters driving the stretch are forced to more than double their travel time to ensure they make it to their destination on time, the report said.
| Most delayed a.m. commutes |
| 1. Los Angeles, San Diego Freeway |
| 2. Los Angeles, Harbor Freeway |
| 3. Capital Beltway Outer Loop, from Route 1 in College Park to Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring |
| 4. Los Angeles, Santa Monica Freeway |
| 4. Pittsburgh, Penn Lincoln Parkway |
| Reliably unreliable |
| 1. Atlanta, Route 400 |
| 2. Atlanta, I-75 |
| 3. New York, Hutchinson River Parkway |
| 3. New York, Bronx Whitestone Bridge |
| 5. Norfolk, Hampton Roads Beltway |
| 11. I-70 westbound from Route 144 to Route 15 in Frederick |
| 15. I-95 southbound from I-395 to Russell Road in Alexandria |
| 27. Capital Beltway Inner Loop from I-95/I-395 to Route 650 in Silver Spring |
The Beltway ranks behind only two Los Angeles highways for the worst commute between 6 and 10 a.m.
The report also ranked three Washington-area roadways among the most unreliable — meaning that congestion can vary so much that drivers have difficulty planning when to leave.
Interstate 70 westbound from Route 144 to Route 15 near Frederick ranked 11th nationwide. Interstate 95 southbound from Interstate 395 to Russell Road ranked 15th. And the Beltway from I-95/I-395 to New Hampshire Avenue ranked 27th.
The New York area has five roads in the top 30 for unreliability, the most of any city. Chicago had three, and Atlanta had two.
The transportation institute, a research arm of Texas A&M University, earlier this year ranked the D.C. area as the worst in the country for traffic congestion, with the average driver spending 70 hours stuck in traffic jams every year.
