It may not feel like it when you’re driving to and from work, but America’s roads are less congested. In 2011, 1400 miles of the nation’s most travelled corridors suffered from congestion, which seems high, but this number represents a decline from the 2400 miles of congested roads in 2010.

The traffic and navigation service provider INRIX was in charge of the study.

INRIX found that some commuters spent as much as 60 hours a year sitting in traffic last year. In addition to this blood boiling number, people driving to work at peak commuting times took 7% longer to reach where they were going in comparison to the wide open and free roadways of the corn fields in Missouri. In 2010, peak commuting drives were 9.7% longer.

Why is congestion decreased and commuting times lower? A combination of a difficult economy and the dropped output and activity that comes along with it, higher gas prices prompting people to commute together more, and greater use of public transportation (also from higher gas prices).

Cities with above-average job growth (Miami, Tampa, Houston and Atlanta) experienced increases in traffic jams last year.

What are the ten worst cities to live in if you hate sitting in traffic? Read on (the number in parentheses is the average annual time spent in traffic as opposed to driving on clean and easy roads).

-           Honolulu (58 hours)

-           Los Angeles (56 hours)

-           San Francisco (48 hours)

-           New York City (57 hours)

-           Bridgeport (42 hours)

-           Washington, D.C. (45 hours)

-           Seattle (33 hours)

-           Austin (30 hours)

-           Boston (35 hours)

-           Chicago (36 hours)

Where do you live? Do you have any tips of avoiding traffic in these locales? Know anyone that needs a new car? Let us know!