Many employers are eager to bring their workforce back to the office post-pandemic, but employees are less than thrilled about enduring traffic congestion and long commute times to get there. City planners have focused on developing livable and walkable communities to counter traffic congestion in recent years, but data indicates U.S. workers continue to lose an average of one work week per year sitting in traffic.

According to the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, updated at the end of the first quarter, traffic congestion remains lower than pre-pandemic levels in many urban areas but delays are trending up in more than three-quarters of U.S. urban areas studied. These delays cost the typical driver more than $733 in lost time each year, totaling more than $70 billion of productivity lost to traffic across the country.

Compounding the congestion problem is a sluggish return to public transportation in the wake of the pandemic. Transit ridership remains down 28 percent from pre-pandemic levels.