Drivers in the Chicago and Washington, D.C., metro areas spend the most time stuck in traffic, according to an annual analysis of the nation’s traffic trends.
Commuters in those two cities spent an average of 70 hours stuck in traffic in 2009, according to the 2010 Urban Mobility Report, published by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.
Southern California – the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Ana metro area – was third with an average of 63 hours spent stuck in traffic.
Chicago commuters lost the most money to the delays, $1,738, according to the survey, while D.C. commuters wasted the most gas, 57 gallons each.
The top 10 cities for traffic delays in 2009:
1st - (tie) Chicago, Washington, D.C. – 70 hours
3rd - Southern California – 63 hours
4th - Houston – 58 hours
5th - San Francisco-Oakland – 49 hours
6th - (tie) Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston – 48 hours
8th - Atlanta, Seattle – 44 hours
10th - New York- Newark – 42 hours
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The reason for the congestion in So. Cal. is entirely the fault of the local police, the CHP and the courts. there are cops that go their entire careers without EVER writing even one ticket for impeding traffic. those that do, find pusilanimous judges that levy fines that are tantamount to a parking ticket. service companies are going out of business due to the inability to cover enough territory as their people spend most of their time in traffic. the state is broke, and just getting serious on this issue alone would net billions.
Surprised Portland OR isn't on here... I guess they have the worst drivers and not the worst traffic?
The Twin Cities(Mpls-St.Paul,MN) has obsolete highways-with no desire to fix them
I live north of DC (abt 45 mins) and I'm lucky enough to commute the opposite way of everyone else. I leave and my way is clear. Going the other way though....it's a parking lot. I once had to commute down to DC for a meeting, took me 2 1/2 hours....ridiculous.
Chicago could easily move way down the list or even off the list if it would only do something with its antique traffic signals of which none of them are coordinated with one another to keep traffic moving. This would increase capacity on surface roads by 20% meaning some of the people on the interstates could stay off them and just drive the surface roads to their destination.
RUSH HOUR:
7 – 9 am & 4 – 7 pm (Also between 11 am – 2 pm during lunch)
There is traffic in every city !
Recently retired. Best part of that was being freed from the hour and a half round trip commute.
The list posted here is not the complete top 10 ranking. It's only the ranking for "Very large urban areas" with over 3 million people in population. Although one would assume that the nation's most congested cities are very large urban areas, this is not necessarily the case. There are two "large urban areas" (1-3 million) that actually rank in the top 10.
The complete top 10 ranking (which is actually 11 cities due to a tie for 10th place) for "yearly delay per auto commuter" is as follows:
1. Chicago / Washington DC (tie, 70 hours)
3. Los Angeles (63)
4. Houston (58)
5. Baltimore (50)
6. San Francisco-Oakland (49)
7. Dallas-Ft. Worth, Boston (tie, 48)
9. Denver (47)
10. Atlanta, Seattle (tie, 44)
This is the real top 10 list if all cities are accounted for, measured in yearly delay per auto commuter, which is how this CNN post ranked its top 10.
baltimore is basically the dc metro area.
I was sure NY would top the list! I live in NY and I thought traffic was bad here... and it's only 10th place
I do 54 miles one way in Atlanta daily...takes 1 to 1.5 hours. That's the price I pay to live in the country and work in the city.
One of the great things about the high unemployment rate in Detroit is less traffic!
I live in miami.. live in kendall and commute to south beach its hell
construction all over highways, they are also putting in an underground tunnel by the port of miami so that the huge trucks dont take over the streets. but this adds to more traffic. plus they added 2345362346 more tolls on way to work so i take the streets US-1 but then they added cameras on every block so they give 180 tickets for being stuck in intersections during rush hour.. these flashing strobes take pics of your license plate if u do it and other infractions. not only are the flashes distracting at night but can be dangerous
traffic is a nightmare. how its not top 10 is beyond me.. then god forbid it drizzles the traffic goes to 2 mph (no accidents mind you) plus we have all these horrible drivers from latin american countries who drive like lunatics like they do in their 3rd world countries
i hate miami traffic
definitely has to be los angeles. I seen the 405 traffic. HORRIBLE. How does a city that produces so many films get them done with all that traffic?
Photo caption has a typo: Septeber –> September
DC would probably have fewer traffic problems if the Metro system didn't suck so bad.
This list is bull. i live in boston and work in boston and although it is bad there is no way it is worse than new york. everytime ive gone through new york no matter what time ive been stuck in traffic.