Marylanders endure commutes longer than all except N.Y.

The average commute time in Maryland lagged just seconds behind the notorious treks New Yorkers endure to get to and come from work.

The yearly American Community Survey estimated Maryland’s commuters are spending more time commuting — an average of 30.6 minutes statewide, up from 30.3 minutes last year. New Yorkers had slightly longer commutes, 30.9 minutes.

Predictably, commuters in the Baltimore area’s exurbs have the metropolitan area’s longest drives: Carroll County residents average 34 1/2 minutes, and Harford residents commute 30.3 minutes.

Ruth Hoskins, a volunteer firefighter in Jarrettsville, puts in an even longer commute for her “day job” as a firefighter at Dulles International Airport in Virginia: At least 10 days a month, she gets up at 3:30 a.m. and leaves by 4 to beat traffic, and even then it takes her 90 minutes, she said. She won’t get home until 8 p.m., and then she goes to volunteer at her children’s school, Hoskins said.

“It can take upward of two hours to get home, depending on traffic,” Hoskins said. “If I leave here after 1 or 2, I’m going to get caught up in it.”

Experts put most of the blame for the high average on the number of people commuting to areas in and around Washington. Those in Montgomery, Prince George’s and Charles counties endure the state’s longest commutes.

“We’re heavily influenced by the D.C. region,” said Jamie Bridges, a member of the Commuter Options office at the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.

Hani Mahmassani, director of the Maryland Transportation Initiative at the University of Maryland, has called the Baltimore-Washington area a “megaplex” where people work just as often in the suburbs as in the cities and commute from even farther afield.

“The fraction of people who work where they live is very small, despite the number of jobs in this region,” Mahmassani said.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com