Traffic is still terrible: Miami named one of the most congested U.S. cities of 2020
Traffic may have decreased around town since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but according to a new report Miami was one of the most congested cities in the United States in 2020.
Location technology specialist TomTom has released its 2020 Traffic Index Report examining road congestion in 57 countries around the world. Its findings put Miami at No. 3 on the list of most congested U.S. cities, behind only Los Angeles and New York, despite reduced traffic due to pandemic lockdowns, job losses and a shift to working from home.
And driving was definitely down in 2020. Congestion in Miami saw an 8 percent decrease last year, TomTom writes. On average, the report notes, Miami drivers spent three days and 15 hours driving in rush hour traffic over the year compared to five days and 13 hours of extra drive time in 2019.
The rest of the top 10 worst cities in the U.S. are San Francisco at No. 4, followed in order by Baton Rouge, La.; San Jose; Cape Coral-Fort Myers; Seattle; Honolulu; and Riverside, Calif. Miami and Baton Rouge managed to oust San Jose and Seattle from the top five.
TomTom assigns a congestion rate to each city based on its analysis of free-flow travel times of all vehicles on the entire road network, which are recorded 24/7, 365 days a year. In 2020, Miami had a 23 percent congestion level, while No. 1 Los Angeles suffered through a 27 percent level. A 23 percent level means that a 30-minute trip will take 23 percent more time than it would during uncongested conditions.
Even a 23 percent level sounds maddening, until you consider how much worse things could be. The top three most congested cities in the world were Moscow, with 54 percent; Mumbai, India, with 53 percent, and Bogota, Colombia with 53 percent.
Lousy traffic news is not unusual in the Magic City. A year ago, a Moovit study of 99 American cities reported that Miami was the worst city in the country on several transportation fronts.
This is the most dangerous spot for collisions in Miami during the COVID-19 pandemic
