Here's something to read on your smartphone while sucking exhaust and staring at the miles of immobile cars ahead of you on the Dolphin this morning: A new report out of Texas A&M University ranks Miami among the 15 worst cities in America for traffic congestion.
Miami ranked 11th on this year's report, which computed that the average driver lost about 47 hours last year trying to ignore the Skrillex blasting out of the stalled Honda next to them on the Palmetto.
The A&M study is widely considered the best measure of rage-inducing traffic congestion, and includes a number of interesting stats, including the number of hours lost in traffic and a metric that measures how much longer what should be a half-hour drive will actually take.
In the first category, the average time lost to traffic congestion, Miami came in at 11th, just behind Seattle. The nation's worst is Washington D.C., where commuters gave up a ridiculous 67 hours to traffic jams. (People: Just take the metro.)
In two other measures -- the total travel delay and the fuel cost of all those hours blasting your A/C -- Miami ranked even higher, coming in fifth behind Washington, Chicago, L.A., and New York (in ascending order.)
Not surprisingly, Miami also ranked fifth in the amount of CO2 pollution its cars are pumping into the atmosphere while sitting in gridlock.
The study's authors say traffic congestion doesn't just lead to murderous feelings and a far too regular audience for Diane Rehm. It also has devastating economic effects.
"As bad as traffic jams are, it's even more frustrating that you can't depend on traffic jams being consistent from day to day," Bill Eisele, a study author, tells the Miami Herald. "This unreliable travel is costly for commuters and truck drivers moving goods."
Read the full report for yourself right here. You've probably got an hour or too to burn anyway on the way to work.
