From my front door to mid-town Manhattan can take thirty-five minutes – or two hours.  The difference?  Traffic.I now check Traffic.com before I get into the car.  It suggests the best route and manages my expectations about delays.  If I drove to work every day I would program in my commute and check it before I had my first cup of coffee.

Once I am in my car, I can check my Blackberry for Traffic.com updates.  We have one car with a brand new ‘nav’ system which advises us on traffic, but Traffic.com is a great alternative.

Cities covered by Traffic.com (from their website)

Albany Dallas – Ft. Worth Los Angeles Philadelphia San Diego
Atlanta Denver Louisville Phoenix Seattle
Austin Detroit Miami Pittsburgh St. Louis
Baltimore Fort Myers Milwaukee Portland Tampa Bay
Birmingham Greensboro Mpls. – St. Paul Providence Tucson
Boston Hartford Nashville Raleigh-Durham Tulsa
Charlotte Houston New Orleans Richmond Washington
Chicago Indianapolis New York S. F. Bay Area West Palm Beach
Cincinnati Jacksonville Norfolk Sacramento
Cleveland Kansas City Oklahoma City Salt Lake City
Columbus Las Vegas Orlando San Antonio