Nashville, Tenn., which saw its population rise by a quarter over the past decade, saw its congestion follow suit. The average resident there spent 42 extra hours in traffic in 1999, up from 15 hours seven years earlier. In the San Francisco-Oakland region, residents spent an average of 42 hours a year in traffic in 1999, up from 38 hours in 1997. Residents in and around the District of Columbia were stuck in traffic, on the average, for an extra 46 hours in 1999, as compared to 44 hours in 1997. Research engineer Tim Lomax, a co-author of the Texas Transportation Institute study, said motorists seem to be willing to endure traffic jams in exchange for the freedom that comes with owning a car.
Gas is still relatively cheap.
It's free to park in a lot of places. Owning a car means you can go where you want to go pretty much when you want to go. It may take you longer than you want, but these freedoms are apparently ones that people are willing to suffer some congestion in order to have. The Surface Transportation Policy Project, a coalition of public interest and professional organizations, said many residents have no choice but to drive. There are no express bus routes nor train systems that can take them from home to work.