Bangkok traffic.

Say you’re a nonprofit leader working on mass transit or walkable communities. How would you quantify the value of less traffic? Here are some ideas via Essay: Commuting takes its toll in dollars, gasoline, lost time and souls | Nebraska Rural Living | Come join us in the country:

A recent study from Texas A&M called the 2010 Urban Mobility Report finds, among other things that the yearly cost of traffic congestion continues to rise: measured in constant dollars, it has risen from $24 billion in 1982 to $115 billion in 2009. Commuting by car costs the average commuter, for the privilege of the experience, $808 in 2009 compared to an inflation-adjusted $351 in 1982.

Setting aside for a moment the questionable value to the individual of commuting by car, consider the cost to the country in wasted fuel. In 2009 it topped 3.9 billion gallons – about $11.7 billion at $3 a gallon.Worse, in many ways, is the “years delay per auto commuter” index, which measures the difference in travel time between congested and free-flowing conditions, and its yearly cumulative effect on each private-vehicle commuter. Commuters in Chicago and Washington lose 70 hours of their lives to rush-hour traffic every year. Thats not the time they spend commuting — thats how much longer they spend in a car than they would if roads and freeways around urban areas weren’t so congested. Drivers in L.A. 63 hours and Houston 58 hours aren’t far behind, and one can only hope that they’re learning a foreign language or at least listening to books on tape as they stop-creep-slow-creep-stop.

Starting at the individual driver level is easy. What’s the driver’s financial motivation for enduring big-city traffic? In part, it’s the money she or he will earn at the job—when she or he finally gets there.

Photo by zoonabar.