To reduce traffic congestion and accommodate new growth by 2030, New York State needs to add 4,500 lane-miles to its roads, at a cost of $45 billion in today's dollars. Otherwise, Utica, Glens Falls and other small urban areas will see rush-hour delays double, and New York City will have traffic tie-ups rivaling those in Los Angeles today.

These predictions come from the recently released Galvin Mobility Study, funded by the Reason Foundation, a think tank specializing in public policy research.

According to the study, the New York City-Newark area ranks 10th in the nation in congestion, with peak travel times 39 percent longer than off-peak times. (In other words, a 45-minute trip under normal conditions now takes about 63 minutes during rush hours.) The group calculates that the metro area must spend an estimated $38.5 billion to add 2,400 lane-miles by 2030, or else rush-hour delays will double.

To keep things in perspective, congestion looks way worse in other U.S. cities. By 2030, commuters in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Portland, San Francisco-Oakland, Seattle-Tacoma and Washington, D.C., will spend more time stuck in traffic than New Yorkers.

AAA New York's proposals for curing gridlock in the metro area have included more widespread use of high-occupancy vehicle lanes, removing bottlenecks at chronic chokepoints by redesigning ramps and interchanges, adding shoulders to reduce delays caused by breakdowns and accidents, and making greater use of intelligent transportation systems to provide more timely information for motorists.