ELECTION INFORMATION: Here's your guide

Traffic jams: bad for basically everything, including your health

Pollution levels inside cars can get up to 40 percent higher while in traffic jams.

Megan Arellano

Aug. 25, 2016, 10:45 a.m.

Aug. 25, 2016, 10:45 a.m.

Colorado Boulevard shimmers under the heat on a Saturday afternoon. Not packed, still vexing. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

colorado boulevard; roads; traffic; denver; colorado; denverite; kevinjbeaty; cherry creek; hilltop; cowx; weather; heat; summer; — Colorado Boulevard shimmers under the heat on a Saturday afternoon. Not packed, still vexing. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Pollution levels inside cars can get up to 40 percent higher while in traffic jams, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. Add it to the well-documented case that traffic is bad for your health.

How bad is Denver relatively? Well, the combined Denver/Aurora/Boulder “urbanized area” ranked about 19th worst among U.S. metro areas for congestion in 2014, according to the most recent report from the Denver Regional Council of Governments.

That means 16 percent of all the car trips we took in 2014 were made in congested conditions. That’s expected to increase to 28 percent by 2040.

The report from the University of Surrey has some Panic Room-style tips to minimize your exposure to pollutants in traffic: Keep windows shut, turn off the fan and try to keep some distance between you and the car in front of you.

But I prefer the don’t-drive method.

An oil rig in Commerce City, March 9, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Proposition 112 in the 2018 Colorado election: What to know about oil and gas setbacks

This is the one that would require new oil and gas operations to be at least 2,500 feet from occupied structures, water sources, and areas designated as vulnerable.

Cash. (Jericho/Wikimedia Commons)

Proposition 111 in the 2018 Colorado election: What to know about limitations on payday loans

This is the one about short-term loans that don't require background checks.

A machine that presses Roosevelt's face into blank dimes. Making money at the U.S. Mint. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Amendment 75 in the 2018 Colorado election: What to know about campaign contribution reform

This is the one about creating counterweights to candidates who can afford to dump lots of money into their own campaigns.

A proposed rezoning for the CDOT headquarters site at Arkansas and Colorado.

Amendment 74 in the 2018 Colorado election: What to know about … uh, this one

This is the one about how property owners are compensated if government activity results in reduced property value.

Protesters crowd beneath the State House in protest of a lack of funding for schools, April 27, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

redfored; education; teachers; protest; denver; colorado; denverite; kevinjbeaty;

Amendment 73 in the 2018 Colorado election: What to know about funding public education

This is the one about increasing school funding by raising corporate income taxes and income taxes for people who make more than $150,000 a year.

Naylani (10) flexes during Curls on the Block's second-annual Miss Curly Pageant. Collegiate Prep Academy, Montbello, Oct. 21, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

A Curly Weekend aims to show that girls with curly hair can excel in STEAM too

"I want kids out here to know there’s black women doing stuff in STEAM and they don't all have straight hair and they're cool."

Antonia Montoya plays with her grandkids, Nathan (left) and Angelina in the Globeville Recreation Center after a community food bank run by the Birdseed Collective wrapped up for the day, Aug. 20, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Initiated Ordinance 302 in the 2018 Denver election: What to know about “Healthy Food for Denver Kids”

This is the one about food and food education for kids.

Leslie Herod at the 2016 Democratic Watch party at the downtown Denver Westin. (Chloe Aiello/Denverite)

Initiated Ordinance 301 in the 2018 Denver election: What to know about “Caring 4 Denver”

This is the one about mental and behavioral health care services.

Denver's Auraria Campus, April 30, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Initiated Ordinance 300 in the 2018 Denver election: What to know about the Denver College Affordability Fund

This is the one about scholarships.

VOTE HERE, set up in front of the City and County Building. June 11, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Referred Measure 2E in the 2018 Denver election: What to know about funding campaigns with public money and banning corporate donations

Money and politics could dance a little further apart in 2020.

Man gets life for shooting and killing 3 people in a Thornton Walmart

Congressman Mike Coffman speaks to reporters in his Aurora office, May 31, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

colorado; denverite; copolitics; mike coffman; aurora;

National Republican Congressional Committee cuts spending for Colorado Rep. Coffman

Zach Martinucci, cofounder and head baker of Rebel Bread bakery in Five Points, poses for a portrait. Oct. 17, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Opening alert: Rebel Bread bakery moves into Five Points

It's a bakery and bread school opening in the Temple building on Curtis.

Volunteers gathered outside of the Colorado Secretary of State's Office to hand over more than 158,000 petition signatures for the End-of-Life Options campaign. (Chloe Aiello/Denverite)

Referred Measure 2B in the 2018 Denver election: What to know about changing the rules about changing the rules

This is the one about how citizens get stuff onto the ballot.

John Abeyta crosses the sidewalk at Russell Square Park in Denver's Cole neighborhood, Aug. 9, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Referred Measure 2A in the 2018 Denver election: What to know about a sales tax bump for parks and nature in the city

This one's about raising money for more green stuff.

A wall of portraits of Dry Bones Denver members who have passed away inside their City Park West headquarters, Oct. 18, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Here’s what we learn by counting deaths among Coloradans experiencing homelessness

People are keeping track of deaths on the street for public health reasons -- and more.

Skiler (7) learns how to fall safely during boxing class at Heavy Hearts Heavy Hands gym in Aurora, Oct. 17, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

A growing Denver movement is encouraging people to put down the guns and catch a fade instead

A Spin scooter takes one last look at the ocean before it embarks on a journey inland to Denver. (Courtesy of Spin)

Spin scooters are arriving, bringing the final Denver scooter count to 1,750 by the weekend

"We never launch in a city without a permit. Some of the other companies have a different approach."

Darrell Cole Booth films Hip General Do dancing on an uptown stoop, Feb. 28, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

colorado; kevinjbeaty; denverite; denver; nightlife; north capitol hill; uptown;

Things to do in Denver this weekend, Oct. 19-21

Activists break the chains of a giant pair of shackles after a rally to vote "yes" on Amendment A, to make slavery unconstitutional in Colorado, at City Park, Aug. 28, 2018. (Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite)

Amendment A in the 2018 Colorado election: What to know about trying to ban slavery (again)

This is the one that ... bans slavery. (Or doesn't.)