TxDOT (Kinda) Confirms That Houston Is Home To Traffic Masochists

​The Texas Department of Transportation has put out a list of the 100 Most Congested Roads in Texas, and boy -- do we suck.

Almost 40 percent of the little pieces of traffic hell TxDOT listed are right here, in Harris or Fort Bend counties.

The usual suspects make the top (Six of the top ten are in Harris): I-45 around downtown and north of it, the Katy, the Southwest Freeway.

There's a math-ridden explanation for how much all this is costing commuters, but it seems full of numbers and multiplication and other things we'd just as soon not think about. But according to the chart, sitting in traffic racks up more wasted money than abstinence education.

What are some of the more obscure traffic-hell spots around here?
Coming in at Number 100 is Alief Clodine Road out beyond Beltway 8. "A trip that takes 20 miniutes in free-flow conditions will take approximately 28 minutes during rush hour," TxDOT says, and the delays there cost $2.3 million annually in -- wait, WTF? An extra eight minutes?

Man, commuters must be impatient out in Alief, not to mention Clodine.

I-10 from the West Loop to downtown comes in at Number 91, which seems low to us. But rush hour, TxDOT says, can turn a breezy 20-minute trip into a tortuous 23-minute trip. Those extra three minutes could cause you to hear "Party in the USA" again!! (Not to mention, how does anyone take 20 minutes to drive from the West Loop to downtown in "stress-free conditions"? Are they stopping at the Studemont adult bookstore on the way?)

Anyway, TxDOT also offers many links to projects that would solve all these delays if they could just have more money. Most seem to involve putting down more concrete.