Traffic costs average U.S. household $1,700 a year

We all know time is wasted sitting in rush hour traffic, but how much do traffic jams hurt your pocketbook?

A new study by INRIX and the Centre for Economics and Business Research suggests it costs a lot. The study concluded that Americans wasted $124 billion sitting in traffic in 2013 and traffic cost the average household $1,700 a year.

Currently, INRIX estimates the average American wastes 111 hours per year in traffic.

Those expenses are based on direct costs like people's wasted time and fuel, and indirect factors like the higher price of goods that congestion causes, according to INRIX, a Kirkland, Wash.-based company that provides traffic intelligence software.

Los Angeles is the U.S. city with the worst traffic. L.A. accounted for nearly 20% of the total cost of congestion in the U.S. last year.

But the answer to the gridlock problem may not be building more roads. Not surprisingly, INRIX sees the answer in technology.

"It's being able to give people better information so they don't have to go out there like lemmings and get stuck in it," said Jim Bak, INRIX spokesman. Bak suggests that better technology can also help drivers pick alternate routes and leave at different times to have a more efficient commute.

"It's also better information for DOTs to help them better manage the roadways," he said.

The study, which projected traffic costs in four countries -- the U.S., U.K., France and Germany -- predicted the annual cost of traffic gridlock will soar to $293.1 billion by 2030, an almost 50% increase from last year. That's mainly driven by urban population growth and higher living standards as a result of increased GDP per capita. As people drive more, commutes will slow, increasing costs from wasted time.

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