All I could do was sigh when I saw a recent article discussing a new study that named the Interstate 95 corridor between Exit 133 and the Fairfax County Parkway as the worst traffic "hot spot" in the nation. The article was circulated around the Prince William County school where I teach.

Every minute added onto my 34-mile round trip to work creates huge consequences for me. The trip used to take an ideal 45 minutes, but it has grown to a jaw-dropping 2½ hours — creating significant consequences for me and my children. I am not prone to "road rage," but more than two hours of heavy traffic will wear on anyone's nerves. Merging into small spaces with little margin for error, constantly being on alert in case you are in someone's blind spot and watching other drivers to try to notice who is dangerously distracted, combined with frustration at the situation and fear of being late, create more stress. We've heard before about the physical consequences of prolonged stress.

Two of my three children are school-age and need to be driven to their extracurricular activities. Each is playing one sport this season, and one is managing the school volleyball team. As far as I can tell, three activities for two children is a fairly typical number for families in this area.

One evening this month, my son had a baseball game that should have been about a 15-minute drive from home. Under ideal conditions, I would have had an hour and 15 minutes at home to change clothes, fix a quick dinner and sit down to eat with my children before leaving for the game. Thanks to that day's "heavy traffic, as usual," according to my Google map, I had 15 minutes at home, and my son had to eat his dinner in the car. Our family memories of that night, and many others, have been changed from a shared family meal to interminable waiting in traffic followed by admonitions to "hurry, hurry!"

I made a quick dinner and risked being late to baseball because I can't afford to eat out every time we are in this situation — three to four times a week. Sometimes, however, I choose the drive-through. I believe strongly in cooking homemade meals, but sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to cook tomorrow's dinner after I put the kids to bed. In this way the traffic undoubtedly affects my family's health.

I am a single mom, and I acutely feel the loss of my time. My dishes were left in the sink that night. My laundry sat unfolded in the basket. My house is never as clean or organized as I would like it to be, and I feel guilty every day that my children do not have as comfortable or inviting a home as I grew up in — because I am always stuck in traffic. My children will grow up more anxious and harried — because of traffic. My son can't have a dog, because the time we could spend with it is spent in traffic. There are very real reductions to my family's quality of life from the award-winning traffic we are surrounded by.

So, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), what are you going to do about it? The five-year construction plan underway is laughably inadequate. Highway modifications are already well behind the current needs, and this plan will do little to alleviate them, much less provide relief as traffic swells with population growth.

How long will so many Virginians' quality of life suffer because of a single issue?