Denver named one of the worst cities in US for commuters

If you’ve sat on I-70, I-25, C-470 or any of the other major thoroughfares around Denver lately, you won’t be surprised by this…

Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s latest Urban Mobility Report shows congestion in U.S. cities is getting worse, and Denver is among the worst!

Denver saw 10 percent more traffic delays in 2024 than 2023, and drivers in Denver lost an average 76 hours – that’s more than three days – sitting in traffic in 2024. Denver ranked 17th in delays per commuter out of the top 101 urban areas in the U.S. The report looks at data such as total delay hours for drivers, average time in traffic for commuters, how much driving time traffic adds to trips and even how much money drivers waste in traffic.

The cost of congestion in Denver reached a total of more than $3.5 billion in 2024, according to the report, the 18th-highest in the country.

Individual drivers in Denver lost an average $1,718 from lost productivity and wasted fuel from congestion. That’s 16 percent more than the average for drivers in cities of comparable size to Denver.

Denver’s traffic caused an excess of about 30 million gallons of fuel to be consumed in 2024, and the average Denver commuter wasted about 20 gallons.

But hey, at least we have some cool scenery to stare while we sit in traffic unlike cities Los Angeles, which ranked as the worst commute in the study.