If you’ve ever taken a vacation to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., or Atlanta, the driver in you has undoubtedly come face to face with some of the worst traffic jams in the nation. I can attest from personal experience of living in all three cities, that the traffic is horrendous. From having to sit in traffic for up to 2 hours at a time, seeing a line of cars over 3 miles long, and trying to avoid obnoxious cab drivers, big city driving brings with it a variety of unpleasant feelings. And now there is one more to add to the list: high gas prices.

Right now, gas prices are resting right around $4 per gallon, give or take a few cents, in almost every state. Thus, it is becoming more difficult for people to actually want to get in their cars to drive anywhere because of the fear of how much it will cost them in the long run. Even Utah is taking heed, as they’ve recently become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees in hopes of reducing the amount of travel and possibly helping drivers to save money. So how will the unstable economy affect drivers who live in these high traffic cities? Now, instead of solely worrying about getting to work on time, drivers will be more concerned with the money it’s going to take to get to work. In big cities such as D.C., LA, and Atlanta, due to the unbelievably high cost of living, a number of employees live in the suburbs and are forced to travel into the city. In past years commuting to work has never really been an issue, but with gas prices continuing to teeter and threaten reaching some of their highest amounts ever by the year’s end, that is no longer the case.

Thankfully for many drivers in these largely populated cities, public transport is easily accessible and gives drivers an alternative choice to get to work. And they certainly have been taking it. Mass transit has experienced a 3% increase of riders since the beginning of 2008 and that number doesn’t appear to be slowing anytime soon. But for those drivers like myself, who just can’t seem to separate from their beloved vehicles, the economic problems are just something that we’ll have to deal with…for now.

Apparently driving in the big cities is still a possibility, but there is no telling what changes the future may bring. Truthfully, I’m not too sure I want to know.

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Tags: General Auto, travel //