How long is your commute? What does it cost?

Ties to Far-Flung Homes Drive Commuters to Great Lengths By Alec MacGillis Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, April 25, 2006; The mountains -- Blue Ridge to the east, Massanutten to the west -- loom over Luray, Va., but their outlines are barely visible in the dark as the men gather in the park-and-ride at 3:50 a.m. The day's driver gets behind the wheel of the van, a nine-year-old Dodge, seven others pile in behind him, and by 4 they're headed up Route 340, the moon still a sharp white wedge and 77 miles of road ahead. [Washington Post]

It is ironic, perhaps, that on the same day there are two articles that serve to highlight a very serious problem. That being the high price of gas and the long commutes that large numbers of people are enduring day in and day out and the catastrophic crash that is coming our way.

From Washington to Los Angeles, there are always stories about the odd far flung commuter that for one reason or another chooses to commute horrendous distances for a job. What we are seeing in the suburbs and further out is that it is more the rule than the exception. Most people have an average two-way commute of about 90 minutes in the BosNYWash corridor any more and two hours for the round trip is really the norm on any given day for most. What we are seeing however is an increase in that rate to as much as four hours round trip, most of that time spent idling in congestion and stopped traffic.

For the lucky few, there are carpools and mass transit options and for the truly fortunate, there is the ability to work from home without having to get into a car, but that is the exception rather than the rule. Even high technology companies have very low rates of home based workers and the federal government, with perhaps the best reason to have people stay at home, can barely keep up with its infrastructure requirements let alone figure out how to have people work effectively outside the office.

And it will only get worse. The United States has become a nation to dispersed and decentralized to support. Paving roads is not the answer and it is too late to impose intelligent urban planning scenarios on the situation. House are being dropped literally on every unplowed stretch of earth with little thought for how those people will get out of their communities and to their place of work, how their children will get to school and where they will get their groceries from at the end of the day.

Is the end near? If you think gas at $5 a gallon is bad, wait until you start thinking about how much of your money is being wasted while you sit in stop-and-go traffic having paid $5 a gallon for gas. Implosion is only the beginning.