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Sea level rise is already leading to longer commutes in coastal US

Flooding from rising tides has added at least 23 minutes to the total annual commuting time for people living in coastal communities of the US, adding up to millions of hours wasted each year

By James Dinneen

6 October 2023

Commuter on a bike in floods — A cyclist on a flooded section of bike path in California on 3 January 2022
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

Flooding due to sea level rise has added an average of at least 23 minutes to the time people in the coastal US spend commuting over the course of a year. By 2060, even a modest amount of additional sea level rise could increase that delay ten-fold, amounting to billions of hours of wasted time for commuters.

“It’s here. It’s now. It’s a delay that is already occurring,” says at Florida State University.

Hauer and…

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