The amount of time Americans spend in their cars has tripled in the past 20 years. The total gallons of “wasted” — burned in traffic — fuel has gone up fourfold. There’s a lot of wasted “people time” left on the highway, too.

A new study on traffic congestion points out that after years of public complaint, ineffective response has led to more traffic and traffic delays.

But for many Americans, the potential solutions are unappealing. Car-pooling and rearranging the ways cities are laid out have been political duds so far, which brings the issue of traffic to an ideological standstill.

Hear a conversation on why America is stuck in traffic.

Guests:

Tim Lomax, Research Engineer at Texas A&M University and co-author of the 2005 Urban Mobility Report

Catherine Ross, director of the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development at Georgia Tech University

Eric Schreffler, idependent traffic consultant.