Los Angeles has world’s worst traffic congestion — again
U.S. cities dominate the world’s top 10 most-traffic-congested urban areas, with Los Angeles leading in mindnumbing and costly gridlock, according to a report issued Tuesday.
Los Angeles, with its packed freeways and driving culture, emerged from the 1,360 other cities in 38 countries to claim the worst-congestion title for the sixth consecutive year in the 2017 scorecard by INRIX, a leader in transportation analytics and car services.
Drivers in and around the City of the Angels spent 102 hours battling 2017 traffic congestion during peak hours, INRIX’s 11th annual report said.
Despite having the worst traffic congestion, Los Angeles had lower peak period tie-ups than San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and Portland, the INRIX study showed. Nighttime travel is also a bright spot, with Los Angeles city streets ranking better than 35 other cities.
As horrible as L.A. traffic can be, the driving experience in four other U.S. cities isn’t much better, with all finishing in the Top 10 of worst traffic tie-ups:
❚ New York City. Motorists spent 91 hours battling peak hour gridlock. Overall congestion speeds are 7.4 mph, compared with 9.9 mph in Los Angeles and 10.5 mph in San Francisco. However, the city’s peak congestion rates on highways are lower than those in the two California cities.
❚ San Francisco. With an average of 79 hours of congestion, the San Francisco is tied with Boston for the highest congestion rates on arterial and city streets during peak commute hours. However, San Francisco highways fare better in the peak period than Seattle, Boston, Portland, Los Angeles and six other cities.
❚ Atlanta. This city has no Southern charm when it comes to an average of 70 hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
❚ Miami. Despite being known as a laid-back tourist destination, Miami motorists endure 64 hours of traffic congestion.
“Congestion is an enormous problem and an enormous cost,” Graham Cookson, the chief economist of INRIX, said. The new report “puts some real numbers to the size of that cost.”
Beyond frayed nerves, traffic congestion cost U.S. motorists nearly $305 billion in 2017, an average of $1,445 per driver, the study found. The estimated totals tally direct costs, such as the value of time spent in traffic and payments for extra fuel, plus indirect costs, including higher delivery spending for goods and services that companies pass along to customers.
New York City motorists fared the worst among the nation’s urban areas. They racked up $2,982 in direct and indirect costs per driver during 2017, the report found. The city as a whole faced an estimated $19.2 billion in total costs, the report said.
Based on the findings, the U.S. ranked as the most traffic-congested developed nation in the world, with drivers spending an average of 41 hours a year battling traffic during peak travel times of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.