Feeling traffic trauma? Miami commutes are longer than ever for more people than ever

If you feel like your South Florida commute seems increasingly hellish these days, you’re not alone.

Over the past decade, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties have seen a whopping increase of almost 29 percent in the share of commuters who travel at least 90 minutes to get to work. That is one of the largest increases in America among big cities.

By comparison, Atlanta saw just a 14 percent increase between 2005 and 2016, while New York jumped only 15 percent.

The data, compiled by ApartmentList.com, brings South Florida in line with the national share of Americans now making “supercommutes.” As of 2016, 2.7 percent of South Florida commuters were traveling at least 90 minutes to get to work. That’s the same as the nation as a whole. Other fast-growing regions now have even larger shares: 6.7 percent of New Yorkers are now supercommuters, while 4.6 percent of people living in and around Washington D.C. are making daily megahauls.

“While many higher-paid, highly educated workers can afford to live in superstar cities, other workers are priced out due to high demand and restrictive zoning regulations that lead to a lack of new housing,” ApartmentList’s Sydney Bennet said in the report. “These workers are forced to move further from work, enduring longer commutes.”

The report cites the Miami Herald’s 2017 profile of housekeeper Odelie Paret and her 13.5-mile daily commute, which can take anywhere from one to three hours each way, as an example of how impossibly long commutes are becoming more common.

“City planners, transportation experts and housing industry officials would be well-advised to consider this class of commuters as they plan for the future,” Bennet writes.

Here’s how America’s largest cities’ supercommuter populations have grown since 2005. (Share of commuters who are now “supercommuters” are in parentheses.):

1) Boston: +50% (3.5%)

2) Miami: +28.8% (2.7%)

3) Los Angeles: +28.3% (3.8%)

4) Washington DC: +25.3% (4.6%)

This story was originally published April 26, 2018 at 12:04 AM with the headline "Feeling traffic trauma? Miami commutes are longer than ever for more people than ever."