Average Commute Time up Two Minutes in 10 Years

Average Commute Time up Two Minutes in 10 Years


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The average commute in Utah took 20 minutes in 2000 -- two minutes longer than it did in 1990, a University of Utah study found.

The study by the university's Bureau of Economic and Business Research found that about one quarter of Utah commuters drive 30 minutes or longer to work, with those taking the longest time coming from Tooele County and driving 32.1 minutes.

Utah ranks No. 11 as having the shortest commute time.

It ranks No. 21 among all states in the use of public transportation to get to work.

The study, based on census data, did not take into account the newest light-rail lines.

"This ranking should improve in the 2010 census data because of the addition of the University and Medical Center light rail (Trax) lines," said Pam Perlich, senior researcher.

Although 83 percent of Utah residents live relatively close to where they work, an increasing number of workers have to cross county lines to their jobs.

A little more than 61 percent of workers who live in Morgan County have to drive across county lines to get to work. Even though that's the highest out-of-county commute rate, Davis County has more residents -- 59,509 -- who work in other counties.

Salt Lake County has long been the center of employment in the state, so it ranked the highest in the number of commuters who travel to work within the county.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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