DALLAS — The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area is home to several of the top 10 most congested roads in the state, according to a new report.

Whether it’s his commute to work or the commute home, LeDarrius Harris spends most of his time sitting in DFW traffic, a frustrating addition to an already long day. 

“I haven’t had a day where I haven’t been stuck in traffic for at least 35 minutes. I have to leave for work around 7 a.m. And so traffic, no matter whether I take Preston, 75, DNT,” he says. 

Harris lives in Aubrey and drives to work in Richardson. He says the traffic congestion delays him the most. 

“I will hit traffic for at least 45 minutes every single morning, and it’s only a 32-mile drive. And it takes me no less than an hour and 15 minutes,” Harris said. 

According to a new report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, DFW roads are among the most congested in the state. Three North Texas roads made the top 10 list: Woodall Rodgers Freeway, from U.S. 75 to North Beckley Avenue; U.S. 75 from 635 to Woodall Rodgers Freeway in Dallas; I-35 W from 183 to I-30 in Fort Worth.

“If I had to pick one thing, it would be not sitting in 75 traffic. That would make my life 1,000 times better. Whether it’s construction [or] car, it’s always traffic,” Harris said.

Every year, the institute measures congestion on about 10,000 miles of Texas roads after the state legislature directed them to conduct annual reports in 2009. 

“We use TXDOT traffic data. So how many cars are on a section road, and we marry that up,” says David Schrank, who is a senior research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. 

Schrank says combining the data helps his researchers calculate delays and congestion.

“The Dallas-Fort Worth area and Houston, they both occupy 30-something of the top 100. Dallas-Fort Worth has 39 and Houston has 32. So as you would expect, they sort of dominate the top of the list,” Schrank said.  

Researchers found traffic delays increased 7% from 2021 to 2022. Schrank believes the traffic increase is due to companies calling employees back to work in the office. 

“So the first half of that year, many businesses were starting to kind of think about how to come back to the office and all that… So hard to say this is what’s happening, that’s what’s happening. But at the end of the day, what it is, is there’s a lot of reasons for traffic,” he said.