Skip to main content

Inrix ranks U.S. most congested developed country in the world

The U.S. is the most congested developed country in the world, with drivers spending an average of 41 hours a year in traffic during peak hours, costing them nearly $305bn (£220bn) in 2017, an average of $1,445 (£1,042) per driver. The findings come from Inrix’s annual Global Traffic Scorecard, which analysed 1,360 cities across 38 countries. Additionally, the study revealed that the U.S. had three of the top five most congested cities globally, costing an economic drain upwards of $2.5bn (£1.8bn). Los
February 7, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

The U.S. is the most congested developed country in the world, with drivers spending an average of 41 hours a year in traffic during peak hours, costing them nearly $305bn (£220bn) in 2017, an average of $1,445 (£1,042) per driver. The findings come from 163 Inrix’s annual Global Traffic Scorecard, which analysed 1,360 cities across 38 countries.

Additionally, the study revealed that the U.S. had three of the top five most congested cities globally, costing an economic drain upwards of $2.5bn (£1.8bn). Los Angeles came first, where drivers spent an average of 102 hours in traffic jams during peak congestion hours, costing them $2,828 (£2,040) each and the city $19.2bn (£13.8bn) from direct and indirect costs. New York came second (tied with Moscow) with 91 hours while San Francisco ranked fifth with 79 hours.

New York businesses suffered the most from congestion with an average of 14% travel time on weekdays in gridlock and where drivers wasted the most daytime hours stuck in traffic in the entire country. Santa Cruz also had the worst overall daytime congestion on arterial and highways with drivers spending 12% of their days sitting in traffic.

Downtown Metro Insights showed El Paso in Texas had the worst slowdowns where free flow speeds dropped from 43mph to 5mph when congested.

Inrix’s In and Out City Insights found that commuters around Everett in Washington spent more time stuck in traffic than anyone else with a rate of 28% on highways.

Weekend Insights revealed that Las Vegas drivers cruised slowest with congestion speeds at 5mph.

For a third consecutive year, the I-95 Cross Bronx Expressway in New York was ranked the worst corridor in the U.S. with the average driver spending 118 hours per year in congestion, an increase of 37% over last year.

A full copy of the report and additional findings are available on the %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external website Inrix website link false http://http//inrix.com/scorecard/ false false%>.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Passport's parking app available in the City of Orillia, Canada
    August 14, 2018
    Drivers in the City of Orillia, Canada, can use Passport's parking app at 200 on-street spaces and nearly 500 off-street spaces in the downtown area. The City has made PassportParking available to residents and visitors to offer a more convenient payment method. Users can also extend their parking sessions remotely, keep track of parking history, receive notifications and get email receipts.
  • EVs providing power to Portuguese island
    June 17, 2019
    Electric vehicles (EVs) are being used to power people’s homes on an island in the Atlantic Ocean. Part of Portugal’s Madeira archipelago, Porto Santo is using solar-powered EVs, according to a BBC report. They are charged during the day, with unused energy returned to the grid at night. The Portuguese island is not the only part of the world seeking to harness the potential of solar energy for EVs. In India, Bharat Heavy Electricals is setting up a network of solar-based electric vehicle
  • Nauto launches solution to eliminate distracted driving
    June 18, 2018
    Transportation company Nauto has launched its Prevent solution to help eliminate distracted driving by alerting motorists when their eyes have strayed off the road for too long. The company hopes to reduce accidents and collisions - before the large-scale arrival of autonomous vehicles. A report by TechCrunch says the device will send a voice notification if motorists are distracted for more than five seconds and are driving at 60mph. An alarm will follow if the user's attention has not returned to drivi
  • ITS Netherlands and Canada announce MoU
    March 26, 2014
    ITS Netherlands and ITS Canada signed an MoU at the show yesterday, aiming to learn from each other’s experiences in the sector. “Our relationship goes way back,” said the organisation’s president, Michael de Santis, “but we thought it was an opportune time here at Intertraffic to formalise this.”