Forbes lists America’s Twelve Worst Traffic Traps, and, surprisingly, Austin isn’t on the list. These are among the worst, read the full article for all of them with pictures.

• The Los Angeles US-101 and I-405 Interchange, which results in 27 million plus hours of delay each year;
• Houston I-610 and I-10 Interchange, which costs 25 million hours plus hours of delay
• Chicago I-90/94 and I-290 Interchange. Known as the Circle Interchange, it leads to 25 million hours of delay per year;
• Phoenix I-10 and SR-51 Interchange causes 22 million delay-hours annually; and
• Los Angeles I-405 and I-10 Interchange. This San Diego Freeway exchange has causes 22 million hours of annual delay.

Accordingly, the federal government will give money to state and local governments to fight traffic.

Last week, nine of America’s most congested cities were named semi-finalists for a federal program that will provide a total of $1.1 billion to fight traffic jams. The Department Of Transportation (DOT) will consider proposals for its Urban Partnership program from Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Miami, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, with plans to announce winners by mid-August.

. . .

The Eisenhower Interstate Highway system, completed in the 1960s, has failed to keep pace with a tripling of the number of vehicles operating. Conservative estimates by the DOT say the U.S. loses $168 billion yearly from highway congestion. The nation’s trucking system in 2004 lost 243,032,000 hours due to traffic delays, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

I wonder if any mass transit will be considered in reducing congestion in those cities? Probably not.