Study: Atlanta ranks in the top 10 for traffic congestion, but not where you might think

Drivers in Atlanta all know how bad and crazy traffic can get here but how does it rank amongst other cities? The answer might surprise you.

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A study by INRIX ranks the top 10 most congested urban areas in the United States, and we don’t quite believe it, but Atlanta is in tenth place.

The INRIX 2022 Global Traffic Scorecard highlighted congestion and mobility trends in over 1,000 cities, across 50 countries. The top three cities that lost the most time to traffic congestion were Chicago with 155 hours, Boston with 134 hours and New York with 117 hours.

A typical driver would lose up to 51 hours just from being in traffic. That is up 15 hours from last year but still almost 50% lower than pre-pandemic levels. Atlanta was 10% below compared to pre-COVID.

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According to the study, traffic jams has cost the average U.S. driver $869 in time lost. This is up $305 more than last year. With the spike in gas prices, drivers have dished out $129 more at the pump to commute. It cost Atlanta driver $1,257 more.

Traffic jams cost U.S. drivers over $81 billion during 2022.

Here are the top 10 cities ranked in order where motorists would lose the most time and money sitting in traffic:

1. Chicago, Ill.

2. Boston, Mass.

3. New York, New York

4. Philadelphia, Penn.

5. Miami, Fla.

6. Los Angeles, Calif.

7. San Francisco, Calif.

8. Washington, D.C.

9. Houston, Texas

10. Atlanta, Ga.

“Despite geopolitical and economic uncertainties, we continued to see a rise in global vehicle-miles traveled, a return toward traditional morning and evening peak commutes, growth in public transportation use, and continued gains in downtown travel. However, we have yet to fully rebound to pre-pandemic levels, and while we do anticipate a gradual increase over the coming years, we may see a small decline in 2023 should a global recession strongly take hold,” Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX said.

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