D.C. is the second most congested city in America and D.C.-area drivers waste 155 hours a year in traffic which costs over $2,000 for each driver, according to the 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard report published by analytics company INRIX.
D.C. also ranks 19th on a global scale and it surpassed the nationwide average of 97 hours a year Americans spend in traffic. Boston ranks first as the most congested city in America with its drivers losing up to $2,291 per year due to traffic congestion.
Seattle also loses $1,932, Chicago $1,920 and New York City $1,859 per year due to congestion. Wichita, Kan. had the lowest cost of congestion among the U.S. cities at $304 loss per driver every year.
The 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard identified and ranked congestion and mobility trends in more than 200 cities across 38 countries. The report revealed that 97 hours on average per year are lost by Americans due to congestion, amounting to approximately $87 billion in losses in 2018, which is an average amount of $1,348 loss per driver.
“Congestion costs Americans billions of dollars each year. It will continue to have serious consequences for national and local economies, businesses and citizens in the years to come. 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,” said Trevor Reed, a transportation analyst at INRIX.
Inrix press release stated that Washington, D.C. does not have any corridors that appear on the list, adding: “Despite extreme levels of congestion, traffic is diffuse across the region and concentrated to a high degree on major arterials.”
The 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard report analyzed the time loss and also the severity of congestion across cities using peak, off-peak and free flow data.
New Traffic Safety Measures Launched at Intersections Across DC