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Unsurprising Study: NYC's Terrible Traffic Costs The City Billions
By
David Colon
Published Oct 10, 2017
Modified Oct 11, 2017
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By
David Colon
Published Oct 10, 2017
Modified Oct 11, 2017
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In case you couldn't really tell from all the honking that goes on in the city throughout the day and night, New York City's traffic is bad. But it's not just "annoyed you're in a traffic jam" bad, no, that would be too easy. According to a new study, the city's traffic is "chart-topping in need of government assistance to tamp down" bad, and is also costing New York billions of dollars. Nothing a few more parking placards won't fix!
The study from traffic research firm Inrix looked at what they called "traffic hotspots" around the country, which they define as "traffic jams that occur at the same locations along a stretch of road." According to Inrix, New York City had the most traffic hotspots in the America, with 13,608 such repetitive jams in the five boroughs. Those traffic hotspots will cost the city $63.9 billion through 2026 according to Inrix, measured by the company in wasted fuel, wasted time and carbon emissions.
If there's any good news to be found for New York drivers, it's that drivers in Los Angeles spent more time in traffic in peak congestion conditions in 2016 (104 hours) than New York, which ranked second place with 89 hours. However, even that cost the city $16.9 billion in 2016, which was the worst economic impact among the top 25 cities for hours spent in congestion.
As far as individual stretches of roadway that were terrible to drive on because of traffic, the city had 4 of the 25 worst hotspots in the county. At Exits 4A and 6A on the Cross Bronx Expressway, the traffic jams were found to last an average of a staggering 155 minutes, the longest traffic jams on average in the top 25. Must be all those bike lanes the Cross Bronx is famous for.
Tagged
congestion pricing
traffic
David Colon
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