City jammed at worst traffic ranking
Average driver spends 149 hours a year in car
We’re still No. 1! Boston continues to hold the dubious distinction of having the worst traffic in the United States, fending off the likes of Los Angeles, New York and Chicago to top traffic data analyst INRIX’s list of congested
cities for the second year in a row.
The average driving commuter in Boston spends 149 hours a year — more than six days — in traffic, INRIX says, a mark that’s the worst in the country. Boston drivers lose $2,205 a year through time stuck in traffic, also the worst in the country, and the lost hours cost
Boston’s economy $4.1 billion, according to a report released today.
Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., round out the worst five U.S. cities for congestion. Wichita, Kan., tops the study for least congestion.
Jarred Johnson of Transit Matters said Boston ranking worst in traffic for a second year in a row shows “the status quo is not working.”
“We’re not doing enough to fix this problem for people. This is something that is really hurting our quality of life and holding people back from economic opportunity,” said Chris Dempsey of Transportation for Massachusetts.
Both transportation advocates called on Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to impose time-ofday tolls on major highways around Boston and invest in public transportation to help ease congestion.
“If we don’t do anything, I see traffic continuing to grow and our economic success being challenged,” Johnson said. “Companies will move out or decide not expand, folks will be leaving here after college.”
The INRIX study, which analyzed traffic around the globe, ranked Boston as the ninth-worst city in the world. That’s actually lower down than last year, when the splashy ranking announcement had us sixth.
“Congestion costs Americans billions of dollars each year. However, it appears to be stabilizing in some of the country’s most congested metros — with delays raising roughly 3% nationwide since 2017,” said Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at INRIX. “The continued innovation and investment in smarter roadway management is showing early signs of progress. To reflect an increasingly diverse mobility landscape, the 2019 Global Traffic Scorecard includes both public transport and biking metrics for the first time.”
INRIX charitably gives Boston’s public transit a “green” ranking — as opposed to a yellow or red one, for cities with worse or less transit coverage — even though the MBTA remains prone to delays and shutdowns.
The INRIX study does note that Boston’s numbers are improving slightly over last year, when drivers spent an average of 164 hours a year in traffic, losing $2,291.
Boston’s position in last year’s report at the top of the list of worst-congested U.S. cities drove headlines as commuters increasingly feel the crunch of the region’s expanding rush hour. Advocacy groups have called for action, including toll hikes during peak hours, as well as more investment in public transportation. The latest proposal on Beacon Hill would hike the gas tax by 5 cents, bringing it up to 29 cents per gallon, and add 9 cents to the cost of diesel fuel, bringing it to 33 cents per gallon. Additional hikes to ride-hailing fees and corporate taxes would combine to raise up to $612 million in additional revenue every year.
Baker has vowed to veto the gas tax if it reaches his desk (but backs the multistate Transportation and Climate Initiative that could raise the gas tax 17 cents in its first year).
The average American driver loses 99 hours a year, which works out to $88 billion worth of time lost.
Boston drivers average 12 mph in the last mile of their trip, a low mark that’s also included in the calculus of the rankings.
The very worst city for congestion in the world, INRIX says, is Bogota, Colombia, where drivers spend 191 hours in traffic, and spend their last mile only going 9 mph.
INRIX says the data in the study comes from a variety of sources, including vehicles and cities.