Lately, most of the attention regarding America's highway funding crisis has been focused on safety, particularly regarding bridges. While safety surely deserves top billing in the discussion, last week's front-page article in USA Today reminded us that our quality of life is another casualty of the funding crisis.

The article pointed out that "commuting creep" -- the label for the trend in which a growing number of motorists drive to work earlier and stay later in order to avoid traffic congestion -- is changing the lives of millions of Americans, and in most cases changing them for the worse.

"It affects everything from the breakfast-food industry to television viewership trends, from traffic-signal timing to newspaper delivery times, from carpooling patterns to personal fitness routines," the article said. "Increasingly early commutes also are altering workers' relationships with their families."

The article reported the plight of a Detroit-area woman, whose 13-hour workdays deprive her of spending time with her 2-year-old daughter. Her 45-mile commute from one suburb to another, along with the 7:30 a.m. starting time, require her to hit the freeway by 6 a.m. To avoid the evening rush-hour congestion, she stays at work until 6 p.m.

The combination of the growing number of drivers, deteriorating infrastructure and lack of funding for highway maintenance and construction suggests that this trend will continue for the foreseeable future. Next week, we'll look at what traffic congestion is costing.

To read the entire article in USA Today, go here.