Skip to main content

Brussels still the most congested city in Europe

The results of the latest traffic study from TomTom are in, revealing some of the most congested hotspots in Europe. Brussels is still topping the chart as the most congested city in Europe and congestion in the Belgian Capital is getting worse, showing a 1.2% increase in traffic since 2010.
April 20, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe results of the latest traffic study from 1692 TomTom are in, revealing some of the most congested hotspots in Europe. Brussels is still topping the chart as the most congested city in Europe and congestion in the Belgian Capital is getting worse, showing a 1.2% increase in traffic since 2010.

The study also brings gloomy traffic news for the UK. Bustling capital city London - in spite of a 0.2% decrease in traffic - climbs up the rankings to take third place in the most congested city list, while Edinburgh and Manchester both feature in the top ten. In fact, a total of 16 UK cities feature in the top 50 - making the UK undoubtedly 2011's most gridlocked European country.

But it’s not all bad news. Six of the continent’s most congested cities have significantly reduced traffic since 2010. Polish city Wroclaw has seen a 2.6% drop, moving it down to fourth place out of 50. Meanwhile, Toulouse in France has reduced congestion by an impressive 1.9%, making it fifth in the rankings with 33% of roads congested in the city.

In comparison, the German city of Cologne sits at the bottom of the top 50; only 18.9% of its roads are congested. But Germany still features six times in the overall list.

The data shows that you'll have the most stress-free trip in Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Hungary, Ireland or the Czech Republic, each of which has only one city in the top 50.

The most positive change of all has been made by Ireland. While Belfast still sits at number 12, there has been a reduction of 2% in traffic congestion over the last year. And Dublin has reduced its traffic by a staggering 9.7% since 2010 – although at 24.2%, it's still got some way to go to beat traffic-efficient Cologne.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Latest TomTom map update for automotive, government and enterprise customers
    April 19, 2012
    TomTom has announced the availability of its latest map product update for automotive, government, and enterprise customers. Some of the enhancements include continued expansion in India with the addition of over 2,000 km of roads in 47 cities, the addition of 64,000km of roads with navigable coverage in Brazil, improvements in Mexico, the Mega Manila area of the Philippines, full coverage of Croatia, and the introduction of a MultiNet map for Namibia and Botswana in Africa. TomTom claims its maps now cover
  • Emissions reductions targets to have major impact on transport
    October 28, 2015
    As bold moves aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions have been introduced in California, David Crawford looks at the ramifications for transportation. California Governor Jerry Brown’s recent dramatic raising of the bar on emissions reduction policy for the state has won him praise from Japan, Australia, Europe and the secretariat of the critical UN conference on climate change being held in Paris in November/December 2015. His April 2015 executive order aimed at bringing emissions to 40% below 1990 lev
  • Yunex C-ITS for Czech highways with ŘSD ČR
    June 5, 2025
    Firm deploys 101 RSUs on selected motorways with system integrator Spel
  • Covid-19 cleared the air: ITS can keep it clean
    July 31, 2020
    Covid-19 has created cleaner air: ITS can help keep it that way – but it’s not going to be straightforward, as Graham Anderson discovers