>>It all depends on your perspective. Folks who have moved from cities like Atlanta or Los Angeles, where drivers spent hours each year stuck in traffic, say the congestion in Southwest Florida is nothing.

But expectations are different as well. As Tom Quinn, president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank (South Florida), who moved to Southwest Florida in late 2005 from upstate New York, puts it: "The last thing they want to do on the way to the beach is get stuck in traffic."

Experts who worked on the Texas Transportation Institute's 2005 Urban Mobility Report say that, among the 16 cities they studied with fewer than 500,000 residents, the Cape Coral metropolitan statistical area, which includes Fort Myers, ranks fourth-behind Colorado Springs, Colo., Charleston, S.C., and Pensacola-in terms of congestion cost and delays resulting from traffic.

According to the TTI's data, drivers here experience 15 hours of time lost per year. With 250 workdays a year, or 500 work trips, that adds up to only an extra minute or two, says David Schrank, study co-author.

The study also found a 1:18 travel time index-the ratio of travel time in the peak period to travel time at free-flow conditions-for the Cape Coral area. In other words, it takes 18 percent longer to complete the trip because of congestion.

When you start putting a price tag on it in terms of wasted time and fuel, it comes to about $260 per driver per year. "People would like to have something else to spend their $260 on, so there is an economic side to it," says Schrank.

One difference in smaller cities is that drivers might face congestion on one road, but they can cut over to another street that could be free of traffic, he says.

"Depending on what road you're having to make your trip on, you may or may not be facing a similar situation to an Orlando, a Miami or a Jacksonville," he says.

Having to sit through a red light or being stuck in stop-and-go traffic on a freeway does compare to the situation elsewhere. "But when you're a driver in Fort Myers, congestion is a relative thing and you see your congestion as being just as bad as the next city's," he says.

The institute is working on an updated urban mobility report, which should be out in May or June, that will include data through 2005. The previous report was based on data through 2003.

Having grown up in Mexico City, where his father's commute was routinely one to two hours, David Weston says Southwest Florida residents are spoiled. His average commute is 20 minutes, "just barely enough to get up to speed on the morning news and finish a cup of coffee," says Weston, chief financial officer of Naples-based Coastal Engineering Consultants.

For people who have lived in a large metropolitan area, traffic here might not be a big issue, says Lisa Rexroat, who moved to Naples in 2006 after living in Lexington, Ky., Cincinnati and Atlanta. "While we may have snarls on I-75 or U.S. 41 when wrecks occur, the ease of getting around is so much better," she says. And when she comes across backups, "it's a little extra time to get some phone calls returned and to listen to voicemail."

-Lori Johnston