![Photo: Denver I-70 Morning Traffic](https://www.cpr.org/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto/https://wp-cpr.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/06/ap_17068698804135-1.jpg)
Nobody has fun sitting in traffic. But claims that congested highways cost drivers and businesses billions of dollars, resulting in a negative effect on a region's economy, may be overstated. CU Denver civil engineering associate professor Wes Marshall recently co-authored a study that investigated what connection, if any, traffic and economic growth have.
Marshall talked to Colorado Matters about his research, which compared historic traffic data against a region's GDP and job growth. The study found that congestion and economic markers both continued to grow with no effect on the other.