Motorists who battle daily rush hour traffic snarls on busy routes such as I-35W in the north and south metro, I-694 in the north metro and the Crosstown, I-494 and I-394 in the west metro may beg to differ, but Twin Cities commuters don't have it that bad.
At least according to a survey out this week from the specialized staffing firm Robert Half. The company surveyed 2,700 workers in 27 U.S. cities to determine who has the longest and most stressful commutes.
They found Twin Cities commuters spend an average of 44 minutes a day getting to and from work, which placed the metro area 22nd among the 27 cities surveyed. And when asked about stress levels stemming from commutes, Twin Cities drivers are more relaxed than their counterparts, coming in at No. 24, with only St. Louis, Cleveland and Des Moines, Iowa commuters reporting their commutes were less hair-raising.
Of course, none of that matters if you get caught in a standstill.
Commuters in traffic-tangled cities such as Washington D.C., San Francisco, Chicago and New York reported having the longest round-trip commute times, with an average of more than 57 minutes a day. On the low end of the rankings were Charlotte at No. 24 with a shade over 42 minutes followed by No. 25 Cleveland at 42 minutes even, Des Moines, Iowa at 40.9 minutes and Salt Lake City with 40.4 minutes.
Nationwide, the average commute time was 49.10 minutes a day.
Time doesn't necessarily translate into hair-raising commutes. Los Angeles commuters spend 54 minutes a day in transit (No. 8 in terms of time spent on the road), but have the most anxiety-producing trips. Right behind comes Miami, Austin, Texas and Phoenix. Rounding out the top 10 cities with the most-stressed commuters are San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Washington D.C., New York and Atlanta.
