Spokane Regional Transportation Council's long-range transportation plan, Horizon 2040, predicts by the year 2040, Spokane County's population will increase by 21 percent to 592,969 people. With more people living here, it will potentially add more cars to the road, increasing traffic.

SPOKANE, Wash. — A post trending on Reddit Spokane says the average commute in Spokane is much worse than before.

Some people commented that it may be due to construction or the return of college students to the area.

Washington State Department of Transportation leaders said 5 p.m. is right in the middle of peak commute times in Spokane. KREM 2 checked out I-90 at that time and it was bumper-to-bumper from Freya to the Lincoln exit.

Communication coordinator Staci Lehman said in the Spokane Regional Transportation Council's long-range transportation plan, "Horizon 2040," plans on traffic congestion getting worse in Spokane. This is primarily attributed to Spokane's growing population.

Horizon 2040 predicts by the year 2040, Spokane County's population will increase by 21 percent to 592,969 people. With more people living here, it will potentially add more cars to the road, increasing traffic.

Some claim construction is to blame for the increased commute times in rush hour traffic. Lehman said that may have been true a few months ago in the peak of construction season. But right now, projects are wrapping up or have already been completed. It's hard to say it's just construction causing the backups.

There's also other obvious factors that could affect current commute times in Spokane, such as collisions, or the slightly increased population of college students. Lehman said these factors only have slight impacts on traffic.

WSDOT's 2017 Congestion Report shows routinely congested areas on I-90 in Spokane are seeing an increase in length and time.