The Big Apple is the best city in the world when it comes to getting stuck in traffic.
For the second year in a row, New York City has the worst congestion in the world, with drivers stuck in traffic for an average of four days and costing the city more than $9 billion.
Drivers in the New York metropolitan area lost 101 hours behind the wheel last year due to traffic congestion, according to a transportation analytics company. INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard.
The report collected data from 947 cities in 37 countries to compare travel delays, costs and commuting trends.
In 2023, congestion will cost New York City $9.1 billion in lost time, costing each driver $1,762.
The data showed that the average speed within one mile of the “downtown” core was 11 mph. Drivers reached an average speed of 15 mph during peak hours and 30 mph at slower times during the morning and afternoon commutes.
“Traffic congestion is both a barometer of economic health and a bane of it. It represents vibrant activity and yet it hampers it,” said Bob Pichot, transportation analyst at INRIX. He told Bloomberg. “The sharp rise in urban traffic congestion signals a resurgence of post-COVID economic anxiety, but it also costs drivers billions of dollars in lost time.”
In New York City, the slight improvement comes from the 2022 congestion report, which found drivers lost 105 hours stuck in traffic.
Last year’s figures are 11% higher than the numbers gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic, and mark a return of the area to pre-pandemic congestion, when New Yorkers lost 140 hours in traffic in 2019.
Mexico City, London, Paris and Chicago round out the top five global cities for 2023.
Unsurprisingly, New York was rated the worst in the world and also topped the list of other US cities, beating out Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston and Miami.
The nation’s busiest corridor was assigned to I-4 W, which passes Universal Orlando between the Beach Line Expressway and the Western Beltway in Orlando, Florida, but lost 31 hours during the 5 p.m. peak and 124 hours last year.
The busiest road in New York was the four-mile stretch of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278) from LIE to Tillary Street, where commuters spent 82 hours commuting.
The worst congestion rating in the world comes as New Yorkers face fears over a proposed MTA congestion pricing initiative that was recently halted by Governor Kathy Hawkle.
The plan, originally set to take effect June 30, sought to impose a $15 fee on drivers entering Midtown Manhattan south of 60th Street.
The MTA Board is scheduled to approve a resolution Wednesday “acknowledging” that congestion pricing, the first in the nation, will not be implemented in June 2024 due to a pause in the program.
Earlier this month, Governor Hawke suspended the capital plan, saying now is not the right time as New Yorkers face a cost-of-living crisis.
The MTA expects to generate $1 billion in annual revenue from congestion pricing, which will help fund $15 billion in capital repairs, maintenance and expansion of the system.