Paul A. Eisenstein went through a study released by the US treasury department about American road infrastructure. Highlights include:

• Americans waste 1.9 billion gallons of fuel a year waiting in traffic. This is 5% of total gas used and represents a loss of $7 billion.
• If you take into account the productivity cost of idling in traffic, then the true cost of traffic is $100 billion a year.
• Poor quality roads cost motorists up to $756 a year in vehicle maintenance and other such expenses.
• The US invests 2% of GDP on roads. In Europe it’s 5%.

To read more details from the report, including how the recession actually made things better from a traffic perspective, how the US compares to China, and the government bill that might begin to solve the problem, click here.

Source: MSNBC