WASHINGTON – It’s no surprise: Traffic in and around the District is bad.
But how bad? A new study offers commuters some perspective.
INRIX, a company that analyzes traffic data, says D.C.’s traffic is the ninth-worst in the country. A different congestion index from TomTom recently ranked the region as having the eighth-worst.
Another recent study from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute said area drivers have the country’s worst commute.
However, Jim Bak, co-author of the INRIX Traffic Scorecard, says the sequester has definitely impacted traffic in the nation’s capital.
“In its first three months of 2013, traffic is up across America 4 percent. But in the D.C. area, it’s actually down 5 percent,” says Bak. “Just last month, compared to March of 2012, traffic in D.C. is down 11 percent.”
But even if traffic has gotten comparatively better, there are still plenty of problems for commuters.
Bak says the worst spot in the region is Interstate 95 between Russell Road in Quantico, Va., to the Springfield Interchange.
During the Friday rush, the average drive on that 23-mile stretch takes about 95 minutes.
“Drivers waste on average 41 hours a year in traffic,” says Bak.
“If you look at it from the perspective of a 40-hour work week, you basically waste a week’s vacation in traffic.”
Here’s the INRIX list of the top 100 cities with the worst traffic:
- Los Angeles
- Honolulu
- San Francisco
- Austin
- New York
- Bridgeport
- San Jose
- Seattle
- D.C.
- Boston
- Miami
- Chicago
- Portland OR
- Houston
- San Diego
- Philadelphia
- Baltimore
- Minneapolis
- Tampa
- Atlanta
- Dallas
- Baton Rouge
- Virginia Beach
- Denver
- Orlando
- Charlotte
- New Haven
- Hartford
- Nashville
- New Orleans
- Detroit
- Columbus
- Milwaukee
- Oxnard
- Raleigh
- Sacramento
- San Antonio
- Las Vegas
- Pittsburgh
- Phoenix
- Jacksonville
- Providence
- Cincinnati
- El Paso
- Riverside
- Worcester
- Greenville
- Colorado Springs
- Indianapolis
- Louisville
- St. Louis
- Chattanooga
- Buffalo
- Springfield
- Cleveland
- Harrisburg
- Allentown
- Ogden
- Akron
- Oklahoma City
- Memphis
- Modesto
- Salt Lake City
- Little Rock
- Charleston
- Scranton
- Boise City
- Kansas City
- Bakersfield
- Stockton
- Grand Rapids
- Birmingham
- Knoxville
- Albany
- Fresno
- Toledo
- Poughkeepsie
- Tulsa
- McAllen
- Rochester
- Jackson
- Provo
- Columbia
- Sarasota
- Albuquerque
- Dayton
- Syracuse
- Tucson
- Lakeland
- Des Moines
- Madison
- Youngstown
- Richmond
- Portland, Maine
- Augusta
- Melbourne
- Omaha
- Fort Myers
- Wichita
- Greensboro
WTOP’s Ari Ashe contributed to this report. Follow @AriAsheWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.
