Angelenos sit in traffic an extra 72 hours a year

Surprise, surprise. Motorists in Los Angeles face the absolute worst rush-hour traffic in the country, spending nearly two workweeks stuck behind the wheel in jams and wasting nearly 60 gallons of gas, according to a study released Tuesday.

Angelenos spend 72 extra hours a year on the road - 12 more than commuters in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, which all have the second-highest traffic delays in the nation, according to the federally-funded report by the Texas Transportation Institute.

The national average is just 38 hours of extra delay each year. But the report found traffic congestion around the country has continued to worsen, creating a $78 billion annual drain on the U.S. economy as motorists consume 2.9 billion gallons of fuel idling in bottlenecks and lose 4.2 billion hours from their lives.

"There is no magic technology or solution on the horizon because there is no single cause of congestion," said Tim Lomax, a researcher at the institute and co-author of the report, which is based on data from 2005.

Read the whole story HERE.

Thoughts? Tell our blog!