March 18, 2016
A new report on traffic congestion in the United States has good news and bad news for Philadelphia.
The good news is that we're not mentioned in the just-released INRIX 2015 Traffic Scorecard, which ranks the top 10 U.S. major metropolitan areas by the amount of time an average commuter spends in traffic.
Despite Philly's status as the nation's seventh largest metro area, INRIX found that a number of smaller metros experienced worse traffic congestion than here. (The software company provides a variety of Internet services and mobile applications pertaining to road traffic and driver services.)
It ranks the 10 most congested U.S. metros in 2015, based on average hours wasted in traffic for the year:
But generally, three factors – population growth, higher employment rates and declining gas prices – put more drivers on the road and lead to more time wasted in traffic.
INRIX analyzed and compared traffic congestion in the United States and Europe, more than 100 major metropolitan areas worldwide. The United States leads the list of countries with the most hours wasted in traffic – an average of nearly 50 hours per commuter in 2015 – outranking Belgium (44 hours), Netherlands (39) and Germany (38).
All told, U.S. commuters spent a total of more than eight billion extra hours stuck in traffic.
And here is the bad news for Philadelphia: the report found that the cities most affected by worsened traffic conditions experienced the most economic improvement and job creation during the past year. Not many folks around here would complain about a rosier local economy and more jobs – at least not during rush hour.
In fact, the strongest common factor among the most-congested metros is robust Gross Domestic Product growth, INRIX reported. All top-10 metros except Houston saw their GDPs rise sharply higher than the national average of 2.4 percent. Some cities, including San Francisco (4.5 percent), Seattle (4.1), Washington (3.9) and Boston (3.6) outpaced the national rate by impressive margins.
Philadelphia's GDP grew by 2.4 percent, the same as the national average, but well below most of the other cities on the list.
The Top 10 cities were able to buck national unemployment trends as well.
Unemployment nationwide averaged 5.5 percent in 2015. The most congested metro area on the list, Los Angeles, had an unemployment rate (5.9 percent) slightly higher than the national average, but its jobless rate was nonetheless heading downward. Atlanta was the only other Top 10 metro that had an unemployment rate higher the national average, and Chicago’s rate was on par with the national average. But Boston (3.9 percent), New York (4.1) and San Francisco (4.1) and Seattle (4.6) were all well below it.
Philadelphia's unemployment rate was 5.3 percent last year, close to the national average, but higher than seven of the 10 cities on the list.
Declining gas prices contribute to congestion as well, but the Top 10 cities did not experience especially significant fuel-cost reductions compared to the rest of the country. Gas prices fell, but less that the nationwide average. While many factors may explain a metro's place on the list, lower gas prices are probably not significant among them.
INRIX also took a look at the most jammed traffic corridors in the nation.
Three stretches along two Philadelphia highways known for their bottlenecks made the list of 100 roads:
The 8.14-mile stretch of I-95 from Cottman Avenue to Girard Avenue ranked 58th worst on the list, with the average commuter spending 41 hours a year in traffic delays. The worst hour of the week for delays is 8 a.m. Thursday, with commuters sitting in traffic, on average that hour, for 26 minutes.
The 19.03-mile stretch of I-76 from the Valley Forge Interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to South Street ranked 88th worst on the list, with the average commuter spending 53 hours a year in traffic delays. The worst hour of the week for delays is 5 p.m. Friday, with commuters sitting in traffic, on average that hour, for 39 minutes.
The 9.50-mile stretch of I-76 from Vare Avenue to Belmont Avenue ranked 97th worst on the list, with the average commuter spending 36 hours a year in traffic delays. The worst hour of the week for delays is 8 a.m. Tuesday, with commuters sitting in traffic, on average that hour, for 22 minutes.
