Moscow is world’s most gridlocked city, says Inrix

Moscow is the most gridlocked city in the world, according to a survey of snarl-ups by Inrix. The company’s annual Global Traffic Scorecard found that road users in the Russian capital lost 210 hours last year because of congestion. Inrix weights the data for population, and found that the next four cities on the congestion roll-call were Istanbul, Turkey; Bogota, Colombia; Mexico City; and São Paulo, Brazil. Brazil had another entry on this unwanted list, with Rio de Janeiro in seventh place. Russ
February 21, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Moscow is the most gridlocked city in the world, according to a survey of snarl-ups by 163 Inrix.


The company’s annual Global Traffic Scorecard found that road users in the Russian capital lost 210 hours last year because of congestion.

Inrix weights the data for population, and found that the next four cities on the congestion roll-call were Istanbul, Turkey; Bogota, Colombia; Mexico City; and São Paulo, Brazil.

Brazil had another entry on this unwanted list, with Rio de Janeiro in seventh place. Russia’s St Petersburg came in ninth.

“The dominance of Latin American cities should not be a surprise due to their rapid urbanisation, high levels of informal settlements, unforgiving topographies and financial volatility,” Inrix suggests.

The top 10 was completed by London, UK (sixth); Boston, US (eighth); and Italian capital Rome (tenth).

Although not featuring in the top 10, Dublin, Ireland received its own dubious accolade: it has the slowest city centre speeds in the world, Inrix says, with an average of just 6mph during peak hours. This means it would almost be quicker to walk at certain times, and certainly makes cycling look like an attractive option for commuters.

Edinburgh and London tied for the title of UK’s slowest city, with last-mile speeds of 7mph.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Key Russian PPP project
    April 18, 2012
    The Northern Capital Highway (NCH) consortium has been named the preferred bidder in the tender for the central section of St Petersburg’s Western High-Speed Diameter (WHSD) project. Should NCH win the tender process it will build and then operate the entire stretch of the toll road. The consortium comprises VTB Capital and Gazprombank from Russia in partnership with Italian company Astaldi and Turkish firm Ictas Insaat.
    Read More
  • Cable cars come of age in trans-continental expansion
    April 30, 2015
    David Crawford explores a high-level option of public transport. Sharing its origin with that of ski lifts at winter sports resorts in the European Alps, urban aerial cable transport is attracting growing interest as a low-footprint, low-energy alternative to conventional public transport that can swoop over ground-level traffic congestion.
    Read More
  • Reducing climate impacts starts at the intersection, says Inrix
    September 11, 2023
    The tools to identify and reduce unnecessary delays at intersections are here – and traffic signal performance improvement is also eligible for US government funding, points out Rick Schuman of Inrix
    Read More
  • Funding for São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro urban mobility
    January 26, 2015
    Brazil's national development bank BNDES has earmarked US$15.2bn for urban mobility works in the metropolitan regions of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro from 2015-18. The works include the construction of metro, monorail, bus rapid transit (BRT) and light rail transit (LRT) systems. The investments are part of urban mobility projects planned by the federal government under its growth acceleration plan, many of which will be carried out through public-private partnerships. Approximately US$10 billion is e
    Read More

Highlighted Content