Census: D.C. Area has Second-Longest Commutes in Nation

WASHINGTON - As if they needed reminding, a new U.S. Census survey says that drivers from Washington's outer suburbs have some of the longest commutes in the country.

Marylanders spent an average 30.8 minutes getting to work, the survey found. Only New Yorkers took more time in 2005, with a mean commute of 31.2 minutes.

Maryland State Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan called the commute times "a congestion tax that our citizens are paying."

"They are paying in the form of wasted time, traffic hazards on the roads, wear and tear on their cars, ... wasted gasoline," Flanagan told The Baltimore Sun. "All of this is a burden on our citizens."

Commute times were highest in suburban Washington, with Calvert County residents spending 39.4 minutes behind the wheel, followed by Charles, Prince George's and Montgomery counties.

In the Baltimore area, Carroll residents reported the longest commutes, at 33.1 minutes, followed by Harford, Howard, Baltimore City and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties.

Maryland's average commute time last year was 30.8 minutes, the bureau reported in its 2005 American Community Survey, an annual statistical snapshot of the nation -- an increase of more than a minute since 2000.

But census officials warned against comparing the 2005 data with that from the year before, because of changes in how the surveys were conducted. Last year's questionnaire reached a larger segment of the population, they said, moving beyond sampling Maryland's most populous counties to quiz residents of any place with at least 65,000 residents.

The survey also found that 46 percent of Marylanders work outside the county where they live - second only to Virginia.

In Virginia, commutes of 40 minutes or longer are the average in Prince William and Stafford counties.

The D.C. area also ranks high in public transit use as 13 percent of its workers get to their jobs using bus or train. The ranking puts the area third behind New York and San Francisco in terms of mass transit use.

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