Study Reveals One Week is Wasted in Traffic on Average

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New York City has the worst traffic congestion in the U.S.
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A recent study conducted by INRIX, INC., a company that collects transportation data and analytics, found that, on average, Americans waste one week a year sitting in traffic. To put it in perspective, the data shows that one of every 52 weeks in a year is lost when you combine the amount of time average Americans spend sitting in traffic. With the company’s publication of the data, they also released the 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard, showing the ranking of traffic and congestion in different cities across 37 different countries. According to the scorecard, 10 of the top 25 worst congested cities can be found in the United States.

Of the top three congested cities, two are in the U.S.

The two most congested U.S. cities are New York City and Chicago. The take the number two and three spots respectively, only being beaten by Istanbul in Turkey. The reports show that the high congestion, at least in most U.S. cities, is actually lower than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but nonetheless it is still very high and growing. The reason it is lower is due to many jobs going to remote work during the pandemic and staying that way. This leads to less people commuting to and from work and, in turn, lowering the congestion rates. However, now that we are back to many pre-pandemic ways, many companies are starting to go back to their offices full time, or at least in a hybrid fashion. This is leading to the steady rise we are seeing in congestion levels.

How has this affected the trucking industry?

According to similar data collected in 2022, the high levels of congestion spread around the United States cost the trucking industry a record-high of $108.8 billion, as truck drivers spent a large portion of their time on the road stuck in traffic. This data specifically came from the Cost of Congestion study which was published by the American Transportation Research Institute. This dollar amount equates roughly to about 436,000 truck drivers remaining idle for an entire year.

However, the cost paid does not only come through in the price to pay truckers, but also in their paid amounts of gas that was burned by idling. Data showed that around 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel were wasted due to idling in 2022. This equates to roughly $32.1 billion.

In the United States, Los Angeles comes in third to New York and Chicago for congestion levels.

The data collected by INRIX, INC. showed that New Yorkers lose an average of 102 hours to traffic. This was tied with the hours lost by Chicago natives as well. Los Angeles saw a decent drop, with reports showing that Angelinos lose around 88 hours. This actually is lower than those lost in 2023, as Angelenos lost an average of 89 hours in 2023, but both New York and Chicago saw increases in 2024.

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