WORST CITIES AND HIGHWAYS FOR COMMUTERS

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Today, the average American spends more than 300 hours a year behind the wheel, according to a survey from the Foundation for Traffic Safety. That’s a lot of time commuting—and likely, sitting in traffic. 

INRIX, Inc., a transportation analytics and connected car service, recently published their 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard ranking the most congested cities and highways in America. They report Americans lost an average of 97 hours per year sitting in traffic, costing nearly $87 billion dollars, or an astounding $1,348 per driver.

Most Congested Cities
Out of the 60 most populated urban areas in the U.S., Boston and Washington D.C. rank as the top two most congested cities, losing 164 and 155 hours respectively per driver. Chicago and Seattle tie for third place losing 138 hours sitting in traffic.

New York City was also one of the most congested metros, with the “last mile” taking drivers seven minutes or more to get through at an average speed of 9 MPH.

As for cost of congestion, Boston drivers lost up to $2,291 per year due to congestion, followed by Washington D.C. ($2,161), Seattle ($1,932) and Chicago ($1,920). Wichita, Kansas had the lowest cost of congestion in cities studied at only $304 per driver per year.

Impact Rank	City	Hours lost  In Congestion	Cost of Congestion per Driver
1	Boston, MA	164	$2,291
2	Washington, D.C.	155	$2,161
3	Chicago, IL	138	$1,920
4	New York City, NY	133	$1,859
5	Los Angeles, CA	128	$1,788
6	Seattle, WA	138	$1,932
7	Pittsburgh, PA	127	$1,776
8	San Francisco, CA	116	$1,624
9	Philadelphia, PA	112	$1,568
10	Portland, OR	116	$1,625

SOURCE: INRIX, Inc.

Boston also ranked number eight in the top 10 most congested cities in the world – the only city from North America to make the list. Ranked number one is Moscow at 210 hours lost per driver.

Most Congested Roads
It’s no surprise that 9 of the top 10 most congested roads come from the top 5 most congested cities.

For the fourth year in a row, the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95) in New York City tops the list, wasting 29 minutes per day, or 114 hours per driver per year in traffic. Other cities with the most congested roads include Chicago (2 roads), Los Angeles (2 roads), Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Boston.

Top roads to avoid include:

Rank	City	Road Name	From	To	Daily Delay  (mins.)	Yearly Delay (hours)
1	New York City	Cross Bronx Expressway	Bruckner Expressway	Trans Manhattan Expressway	29	114
2	Chicago	I-90 | I-294	Stevenson Expressway	I-294	26	102
3	Chicago	I-290 (Eisenhower Expressway)	I-94	I-294	23	93
4	L.A.	I-10	I-405	I-110	19	74
5	Pittsburgh	I-376	I-79	Pennsylvania Turnpike	18	72
6	Philadelphia	I-76	I-476	I-676	13	53
7	Boston	I-93	Massachusetts Ave. Connector	Braintree	13	53
8	New York City	I-278 Brooklyn Queens Expressway	Long Island Expressway	Manhattan Bridge	13	51
9	L.A.	I-5	Hollywood	I-110	13	50
10	New York City	I-87 Major Deegan Expressway	Robert F. Kennedy Bridge	Cross Bronx Expressway	12	49

SOURCE: INRIX, Inc.

Key Findings
“Congestion costs Americans billions of dollars each year. It will continue to have serious consequences,” said Trevor Reed, transportation analyst at INRIX. “If we’re to avoid traffic congestion becoming a further drain on our economy, we must invest in intelligent transportation systems to tackle our mobility challenges.”