The Long and Grinding Road

A cushy seat may be cold comfort when you're stuck in traffic. But there's no turning back now. No other country commutes like we do--lone wolves racing each other to get one car length ahead in the pack. Since World War II, we've been slouching toward suburbia, and demographers see no reversal in our outward migration. The number of big cities with more than a fifth of their households living 20 miles or more from the urban center has tripled since 1970, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. And even as jobs move to the suburbs, commuters continue to drive away from them. "It's a game of leapfrog," says commuting expert Alan Pisarski. "Jobs are moving out to the suburbs to be near skilled workers, which enables people to move even farther out."

Vincent Driscoll is one of them. He rises at 4 to make the 55-mile trek from Pennington, N.J., to Jersey City, just outside New York City. For three years, the 34-year-old Web designer has caught the 5:15 a.m. train to Newark and switched to the 6:10 train to Jersey City to get to work by 7. "By Friday night, I'm completely wiped out," he says. "My wife says I've become an old man." Though he loves where he lives, he admits: "You question your choices at 4 a.m. But then I get to the train station at 5:10 and see all the people doing the same thing. It's very humbling to know I'm not alone." Indeed, the road to the American Dream just keeps getting longer.

Photo: Chris Neelley, 43 Commuting time: 120 minutes Routine: Departs 7:19 a.m. to drive 80 miles to his L.A. photo lab. Back home at 8:06 p.m., dinner is done and kids are in PJs. Says wife Laura: I feel like a single parent.
Photo: Dr. Bill Small, 41 Commuting time: 120 minutes Routine: A quick shower and shave and out of his driveway by 6. To avoid bathroom stops, no sips of coffee until halfway to his downtown Chicago hospital. He's heading home 12 hours later.
Photo: Vincent Driscoll, 34 Commuting time: 120 minutes Routine: Out the door before dawn, reads the entire New York Post and naps while taking two trains to and from his Web job in Jersey City. After emerging from the last stop, he's at his desk by 7.

Graphic: (graphs) Going the Distance: Americans are leaving earlier and taking longer to get to work. A look at how the daily commute changed. (To the Extreme; Driving Solo; Food a la Car; Auto Nation) (graphic omitted)

Copyright 2006 Newsweek: not for distribution outside of Newsweek Inc.

With Hilary Shenfeld, Raina Kelley, Nadine Joseph and Jennifer Ordonez

© 2006