London found to be most congested city in the world for the second year running
10 January 2023, 20:09 | Updated: 10 January 2023, 23:40
London's are the most congested in the world, a new report has found, with UK drivers losing an average of 156 hours sat in traffic in 2022.
The report by data firm Inrix named the A219 southbound from Fulham Road as the most severely congested corridor in the capital.
London came out on top as the most deadlocked city out of 1,000 others across 50 countries, and takes the top spot for the second year in a row.
The city was just in front of Chicago, where drivers lost 155 hours last year.
Paris, Boston and New York made up the rest of the top five, with an average of 138, 134 and 117 hours respectively.
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Within the UK, Bristol was shown to have the second worst traffic congestion with 91 hours, followed by Manchester (84 hours), Birmingham (73 hours) and Belfast (72 hours).
But the capital appears to be a hotspot for jams, and has the top five most congested roads in the UK.
The A219 southbound from Fulham Road, which is a major route out of London, was the most severely congested, with motorists losing 47 hours on average last year.
This was partly because of delays as result of Hammersmith Bridge being closed to motorists.
In 2019, London was ranked as eighth most congested city globally, but experts say time lost in traffic is now 5 percent above pre-pandemic levels.
Bob Pishue, transportation analyst and author of the report, said: ‘It is great to see civic and commercial life returning to normal, but unfortunately we’re seeing congestion inching closer to, if not exceeding, pre-pandemic levels.
‘We must manage congestion while improving mobility and accessibility in cities to avoid it hurting economic recovery and impacting the quality of life of commuters and residents.’
