WASHINGTON – Do you feel like you’re always stuck in traffic? Believe it or not, a new survey from TomTom finds the region’s congestion isn’t the worst.
In fact, Washington, D.C., doesn’t even make the top five. L.A., San Francisco, Honolulu, Seattle and San Jose all came before D.C., according to the report released by TomTom, a GPS device company.
But, back in February, a Texas A&M Transportation Institute report found D.C. had the worst traffic in the U.S.
“Whether we’re in first place or sixth place, we will have some of the worst congestion in the nation,” says AAA Mid-Atlantic’s John Townsend.
And that traffic isn’t limited to interstates 270, 66, 95 or the Capital Beltway.
“Most areas of the country only have two rush hours, we even have a rush hour at noon when people try to go out for lunch,” says Townsend.
The top 10 list did see some change form last year. Take a look at the list:
- Los Angeles: Traffic is the highest it’s been in six years.
- San Francisco: Moved up from third place
- Honolulu: Moved down from second place
- Seattle: Held steady
- San Jose: Held steady
- Washington, D.C.: Held steady
- New York: Moved up from No. 11
- Portland: Moved up from No. 12
- Boston: Moved up from No. 21
- Chicago
WTOP’s Director of Traffic Operations Jim Battagliese says he was surprised by the list.
“The fact that D.C. is No. 6 is way off. I’ve done traffic in the top 20 markets across the country. L.A. is, by far, the worst, followed by Chicago and then D.C.,” says Battagliese. “I don’t think I’d put Portland in the top 20.”
For some more information, checkout this TomTom graphic.
WTOP’s Ari Ashe contributed to this report. Follow @AriAsheWTOP and @WTOP on Twitter.
