TRAFFIC CONGESTIONS * USA - Metro areas' traffic congestion up 11% in 2010

Kirkland, Wash,USA -USA TODAY/Inrix National Traffic Scorecard, by Larry Copeland -13 March 2011: -- Nine smaller metropolitan areas — including Birmingham, Ala., Buffalo and Milwaukee — exceeded their 2007 congestion levels and are the highest on record... INRIX, collects traffic information from more than 4 million vehicles equipped with GPS devices and other sources for its annual National Traffic Scorecard report... The increase in congestion is fueled by more people driving and by people driving more, the report says... Its findings are supported by a new report from the government showing Americans drove 3 trillion miles last year, the most since 2007, which is before the financial collapse and unemployment shot up. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says drivers in the USA drove 20.5 billion more miles in 2010 than in 2009, a 0.7% increase... In 2010, travel on urban interstates rose about 1% from 2009 and is nearing 2007 levels, which were the highest ever recorded. Barring shocks to the economy or big sustained increases in fuel prices, volumes on these roads appear to be on a trajectory to setting records this year, INRIX says...(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images: Los Angeles is the most congested city in the U.S., passing the New York area)