By Hadassa Kalatizadeh
Despite the pandemic and lockdowns, New York City has risen in 2020 to become the city with the worst traffic congestion in the United States.
As per the NY Post, a new report reveals that NYC jumped to first place for congestion, having previously been in fourth place. According to transportation analytics firm INRIX, NYC drivers spent 100 hours of time in traffic congestion last year, though traffic was actually down 28 percent compared to 2019. Still, other cities across America, saw much greater declines in traffic over the year, bumping NYC’s ranking up. In Boston, which had been ranked 1st in 2019 but 4th in 2020, drivers spent 68 percent fewer hours in traffic in 2020. In San Francisco traffic fell 51 percent, compared to 2019.
Overall Traffic delays dropped close to 50 percent on average in major cities, saving drivers in the U.S. almost 75 hours of traffic in comparison to 2019, as per the 2020 Global Traffic Scorecard published on March 9 by Irix. “COVID-19 has completely transformed when, where and how people move. Government restrictions and the continued spread of the virus led to shifts in travel behavior seemingly overnight,” said Bob Pishue, transportation analyst at INRIX. “Morning commutes in cities across the world went without delay as people reduced auto and transit travel to offices, schools, shopping centers and other public spaces.”
The list ranked Philadelphia and Chicago in second and third place- the cities losing 94 and 86 hours respectively, due to traffic. The cities each experienced a decline in congestion between six and 12 percent more than NYC. “Downtown speeds [in New York] only went from 11 mph to 12 mph — not that big a jump, 9 percent or so. We saw in other cities jumps of 40 percent or more,” Pishue said, adding that NYC was hard to explain. “New York is its own thing. Everything in New York is unique. Trying to pin this on one factor is really difficult.”
Several roads in NYC were also given unwanted honors, with NYC claiming the second, third and fourth most congested roads in America, as per INRIX’s analysis. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway from I-145 to Tillary Street took second place, followed by the Cross Bronx Expressway west of the Bronx River Parkway, and the BQE between 38th Street and Downtown Brooklyn. The top road for lost time in the U.S. was in Chicago, IL, the Eisenhower Expy E from I 290/294 to the I90/94 Interchange.
