Feel like you spend half of your waking hours wading through unbearable traffic? You’re not alone. We’ve all spent long afternoons trying to get home from the office, desperate for just a slight peace of mind before we have to get up the next day and do it all over again. And apparently it’s only expected to get worse. According to a study conducted by TomTom navigation road congestion is only expected to get worse as the years pass on. The company study millions of TomTom users and has put together a combined list of the U.S. and Canada’s most congested cities.
Los Angeles, Vancouver, San Francisco, Honolulu, and Seattle ranked as the top five cities on the list. All five cities experience at least a 27% delay in travel time due to congestion. According to the study if you find yourself in a daily 30 minute commute in the L.A. area, after one years time you will have spent an astonishing 90 hours sitting in traffic. If you look abroad at how the U.S. stacks up with the international community you may feel a little better. Those who commute in Rio de Janeiro during peak rush hour lose a terrifying 59 minutes out of 60 spent in their car.
No one should really be surprised that traffic is only going to get worse. The world is getting more crowded, cars have become cheaper and easier to obtain, there just isn’t enough space for everybody to move quickly. TomTom’s suggests that if you are desperate to avoid traffic hell, you should consider moving to cities like Indianapolis and Kansas City. Indianapolis residents experience only a 10% delay due to congestion, and Kansas City drivers only have to deal with a 9% delay in their daily commute time. So whether you’d rather sit in traffic all afternoon or live in Kansas City is up to you, but wherever you are we’re betting you’re going to have to sit on the highway for at least a little while.
The full TomTom’s report can be found here.
Photo: TomTom
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