By ARIEL HART , MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/12/07

It's classic Atlanta: The longest of the long commutes got more popular.

New census estimates released Wednesday tell the sorry transportation tale. The year 2006 added 6,864 metro Atlantans who spend 90 minutes or more on their average commute, one way. That's a total of 88,023 "extreme commuters."

The number of those who spend between an hour and an hour-and-a-half one-way rose to 225,964.

The 2006 figures also show that the individual car loosened its grip on metro Atlanta commutes - slightly - in a nationwide trend that could follow gas price hikes.

Metro Atlanta's overall average commute time stayed stable, at about a half-hour. But according to an AJC analysis of the census estimates, one of the clearer trends over the years from 2004 to 2006 is increasing numbers of people who seem bound and determined to maintain that long-distance relationship with work.