Worst Commutes Listed in Painful Detail

At some point most commuters have probably been sitting in traffic wondering if they are in fact on the worst stretch of highway in the U.S. While no one can actually do much about your nightmarish commute, we can at least quantify how awful it is.

Using several different metrics, the Daily Beast went to the painstaking task of cataloging all of America’s worst traffic corridors. The measurements include the length of the corridor, the longest rush-hour travel time of that corridor and the time it takes to drive a mile during the worst rush-hour period of that stretch of road.

They also calculated the rush-hour travel tax, which is how much additional time it takes during rush hour to make it down the freeway. A particularly bad offender, for instance, is the California Delta Highway/CA-4 going westbound in San Francisco, which takes 318% longer to drive its worst corridor (Hillcrest Avenue through Somersville Road, if you’re interested) during rush hour than it does normally.

One might ask, “How do you calculate how much a specific commute sucks?”

The traffic-tracking firm INRIX culled information from 4 million vehicles across the country using GPS and smartphone data (George Orwell, eat your heart out). The Daily Beast then ranked the list based off of INRIX’s Travel Time Tax.

That may sound like a lot of data and work just to figure out that, yes, you must sit through this #%&! traffic a little while longer.

It should come as no surprise that five of the top 20 worst freeways call California home, but several cities with green reputations made the list, including Austin, Texas, Portland, Ore., and Honolulu. New York and its outlying Connecticut suburbs don’t sound like a whole lot of fun either, and much to the chagrin of the Cars.com office, Chicago’s fabled traffic black hole known as the Kennedy/Dan Ryan (Interstates 90 and 94, eastbound) came in at No. 10.

America’s 50 Worst Commutes (The Daily Beast)

Why Is Gas So Expensive?

Gas prices hit the $4-per-gallon mark in Southern California and Chicago this weekend, and the national average price for a gallon regular unleaded breached the $3.50 mark, according to AAA.

Prices for 2011 were already supposed to be some of the highest ever, but because of unrest caused by uprisings in Middle East countries — especially Libya — speculative trading may send oil prices soaring past even the most pessimistic expectations.

“This definitely makes me worry about my prediction,” said Oil Price Information Service analyst Tom Kloza, who predicted a month ago that prices would top out between $3.25 and $3.75. “We always overreact, but this is a doubleheader. The first game is the reaction; the second game is overreaction. It’s hard to say what inning we’re in right now.”

Kloza said the price spike has virtually nothing to do with the supply of oil and everything to do with the perception of the crisis in the Middle East. The spike is a direct consequence of growth in electronic trading of oil futures and options and the fear of those traders manifesting itself in this electronic space.

2011 Begins With Gas Price Spike

Drivers across the country saw gas prices leap over the past few weeks, hitting a national average today of $3.09 for a gallon of regular.

“It sucks, but you have no choice,” said Curtis Carter, 32, as he filled up at a BP station at N. Clark Street and N. LaSalle Boulevard in Chicago. The Windy City currently has the title for the country’s highest recorded gas prices. This particular station was selling a gallon for $3.55.

“I do a lot of driving between here and the suburbs, but it helps that I’m driving this,” said Carter, nodding to his 1996 Toyota Tercel. “I still get about 30 to 35 miles per gallon, even in the city. I usually only fill up about once a week.”

Jake Wishnoff, 18, has a different take. “It’s definitely a burden financially. I live on my own, so this is terrible,” he said. “I knew Chicago had the highest prices, but even two months ago it was only at $3.15 or $3.20.”

For those who do not closely follow crude oil and gas prices, this price spike is not typical. Normally, fuel prices drop between November and January while hitting high tide in the late spring and early summer. For the past month, crude oil prices have hovered around $90 per barrel.

How Will We Handle 2 Billion Cars?

It took roughly 100 years for a billion cars to populate the world, but in just the next 10 years, that number is expected to double. “Two Billion Cars,” written by professor Daniel Sperling along with with policy analyst Deborah Gordon, examines how the world can accommodate this rapid influx of new drivers and vehicles and what policies should be enacted to mitigate the environmental and energy security impact.

Sperling belongs to an elite group of policy wonks who have also appeared on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” In addition to penning “Two Billion Cars,” he’s a professor of engineering and environmental science and policy at the University of California at Davis and the founding director of UC Davis’ Institute of Transportation Studies.

KickingTires spoke with Sperling about the current policies and the challenges the world continues to face since the book’s publication in 2009.

Army Experimenting With Fuel-Cell Abrams Tank

The U.S. Army thinks hydrogen fuel-cell technology could be applied to its vehicles, and it’s starting with the workhorse M1 Abrams battle tank.

So far, the testing is happening only in the laboratory, but the Army believes fuel cells can power a significant portion of the tank’s computing equipment, battle command technologies, sensors and other electronic equipment. The cells would extract hydrogen from JP-8 diesel fuel and convert it to electricity.

The ultimate goal would be to figure out a way to power entire fleets of military vehicles with fuel cells that use non-petroleum sources. A modern, heavily mechanized military faces the obvious prospect of fueling its vehicles in dangerous conditions. One obstacle of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been delivering fuel across two vast countries and providing security for those transport routes.

Army Looks to Fuel Cells for Tanks (UPI)

Car Dealers Get Exemption from Financial Overhaul

The drawn-out battle between car dealers and consumer advocates came to an end today when the U.S. House and Senate finalized the financial reform legislation, and car dealers came out on top.

Senate Republicans and some Democrats from states with a strong auto industry presence fought hard to exempt auto dealers from the oversight of the new consumer protection agency, which will regulate most other types of major loans. Apparently, to guarantee the requisite 60 votes for passage in the Senate, car dealer oversight had to go.

This comes after the Pentagon made an unusual political pitch to put auto dealers under scrutiny. The military claims that an alarming number of soldiers have fallen victim to predatory car loans. President Barack Obama also backed oversight of auto dealers.

The auto industry and its advocates argued that the new regulations were unnecessary and would hurt the struggling auto sector by raising prices on cars just as it’s starting to regain its footing.

The vast majority of auto dealers will not be covered as long as they arrange loans through banks, credit unions or financing companies such as GMAC. However, “buy here, pay here” auto dealers that lend their own money will be covered by the new agency.

Congress on Verge of Completing Financial Overhaul (Los Angeles Times)

Why Do U.S. Automakers Care About China's Rising Currency?

China’s central bank announced that it would let its currency trade in a wider range, triggering a rise in its value on Monday. This move could affect U.S. automakers in important ways.

GM, Ford and Chrysler could all stand to benefit as their popular brands become more affordable in a China with stronger currency. China obviously has an enormous, growing market, and the U.S. government has long been after the Chinese to let their currency rise commensurate with the country’s economic growth. This would boost demand for imported goods, especially luxury items.

Ford and GM would benefit the most because they have car-manufacturing ventures already underway in China. By releasing its stranglehold on the artificially weakened yuan, China will probably boost those automakers’ sales and lessen Detroit’s fears that China is about to flood the U.S. market with cheap car imports.

The flip side is the cost of manufacturing could rise. Both U.S. automakers and their suppliers import a lot of Chinese components made cheap by the weak yuan — $5.6 billion worth to be precise.

Detroit 3 Could Benefit From China’s Rising Currency (Detroit News)

Do Pickup Truck Sales Portend an Economic Recovery?

How might pickup truck sales indicate brighter days ahead for the economy? Pickup sales make for an unofficial barometer of economic well-being, and trucks have made a bit of a comeback recently. Americans bought 151,000 pickup trucks in May, a 19% increase over last year.

Think about it like this: When the economy is healthy, contractors, landscapers and other businesses that carry tools and cargo have more business. The better they’re doing, the quicker they are to expand fleets or replace aging trucks with new ones. The more homes getting built, heating and cooling systems installed or lawns landscaped, the more these companies will need trucks for the jobs.

Pickup trucks hit a sales peak of 2.5 million in 2004 when housing prices were soaring and builders couldn’t erect new homes fast enough. After the collapse of the housing bubble, $4 gas and the economic crisis, truck sales plummeted to 1.1 million in 2009, the lowest figure in 18 years.

Pickup trucks now seem to mirror the economy at large by showing modest but determined gains. Americans purchased 11% more trucks during the first five months of 2010 than it did in the same period of 2009. Ford’s new Super Duty, aimed at construction and building trades, seems off to a particularly sharp start.

Only time will tell if pickups and the economy continue this relationship.

Pickup Sales Picking Up and Economy Hitches a Ride (Detroit News)

Parking Policy Affects Environment, Local Economies

Parking is a major yet overlooked factor in urban design that can have severe environmental and economic impacts, said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at UCLA and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking.”

In a recent speech at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., Shoup outlined changes communities could adopt to minimize the environmental impact of parking lots and benefit local communities. Basically, Shoup wants the price of parking to actually reflect the demand.

By reducing or ending off-street parking requirements written into zoning regulations, the negative environmental and aesthetic impacts of building large lots that mostly sit empty can be avoided. Meanwhile, he argues that parking meters must join the 21st century. They should be priced according to the actual need of drivers and accurately reflect the time a car spends in a spot. Parking would therefore cost more for high-traffic areas, but drivers would feel free to leave after just 10 minutes rather than linger since they already paid for two hours on the meter.

Discussion Begins for Fuel Economy Rules After 2017

It may feel like we just got done setting new fuel economy rules, but the Obama administration has already begun talks to set standards beginning in 2017. This time, commercial truck makers will sit at the table as well.

Joining Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda and Nissan officials at a White House meeting today, Cummins Corp., Daimler Trucks, Navistar and Volvo Trucks will enter negotiations for the next set of fuel economy standards that will include medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

The goal for all parties is to head off the “patchwork” problem wherein a state like California uses the expiration date of the current law to set its own high standard, creating a number of different fuel economy rules that automakers and truck makers must follow.

With the current rules, which require automakers to meet 34.1 mpg by 2016, California basically got the limits it wanted, but automakers were allowed more flexibility in phasing them in.

The administration has not offered much of an idea of what kind of improvement it will seek in the next set of fuel economy rules, but during his presidential campaign, Obama spoke of a 50 mpg standard by 2027. That would require a 4% fuel economy hike per year beginning in 2017.

Obama Will Lead Fuel Rules Discussion (Detroit News)