Dave, I feel your pain. My daily commute is currently from 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic conditions.

Long Term (pardon the preaching) It seems like I have been driving forever. I have watched the creation of the interstate system in the U.S. I have seen communities try all sorts of things to deal with traffic. I have seen neighborhoods paved, malled, and parking-garaged. I've seen bypasses and overpasses and underpasses. I have gradually come to realize one thing. No matter what is done to ACCOMODATE private transportation, things will get worse. If you build it (or widen it, or restrict it) they will come. Every attempt I have seen to accommodate more traffic simply creates more traffic. The only real result is to move the bottlenecks. The focus of the people who make the decisions should not be on making your driving easier, but on giving you real, viable, reasonably attractive alternatives.

Short term (more preaching) If truck drivers are getting preferential treatment, I would take that to mean that they have more "clout" than auto commuters. Figure out what kind of clout they have and with whom. There might be a way for you commuters to wield your own clout. Community activism, wisely and judiciously applied, works. I've seen it.

Short term (weird suggestion) My own daily commute improved significantly when I stopped listening to the radio and started listening exclusively to my own tapes, CDs, and mini discs, both commercial and homemade. I realized that the radio actually agitates me. Makes a bad situation worse. I find that listening to music that I truly enjoy really relaxes me.