Utah is ranked good for commute times

With an average commute of 19.7 minutes, Utahns spend less time getting to work than commuters in most other states, according to a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau.

On a whole, Americans spend more than 100 hours commuting to work each year, according to 2003 American Community Survey data released Wednesday.

In 2003, the nation's average travel time to work was 24.3 minutes for workers older than age 16 who don't work at home, according to the report.

In Utah, Davis County residents have the longest average commute — 20.4 minutes each way, which ranks 192nd among all U.S. counties. Salt Lake County workers travel an average of 19.6 minutes to work, ranking 205th, and Utah County workers' commute averages 19.3 minutes for a ranking of 209th.

The state of New York's commute time topped the nation at 30.4 minutes, while South Dakota workers had the shortest commute at 15.2 minutes each way.

New York City workers have the nation's longest commute, averaging 38.3 minutes. In Chicago, Newark, N.J., and Riverside, Calif., workers also drive more than 30 minutes each way to work.

Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon said in a statement the annual report on commuters is meant to "help local, regional and state agencies maintain, improve, plan and develop the nation's transportation systems."

That's the goal at the Utah Department of Transportation. Spokesman Tom Hudachko said UDOT isn't as concerned with current commute times as it is on what commute times could be in the future, if necessary improvements are not made.

"For example, right now the average commute from Provo to downtown Salt Lake is about 50 minutes, based on travel detectors that we've got in the highway and the actual driving commute time on average days," Hudachko said.

"But our projection shows us in just 10 years it's going to take an additional 20 minutes to cover that distance. That would be if you just maintained the status quo" and made no improvements."

That's one reason why UDOT intends — and is pushing for funding — to reconstruct I-15 in Utah County.

Hudachko said today's average commute times, in Utah and anywhere else, probably aren't going to improve in the future. The challenge for UDOT and other state transportation agencies is to prevent those times from becoming unbearable.