Regardless of some main strides within the final yr, Boston visitors nonetheless ranks the 4th worst within the U.S. and twelfth on the earth, based on a brand new INRIX World Visitors Scorecard launched Monday.
“Overall, congestion resulted in drivers losing an average of 43 hours to traffic jams in 2024, equal to about one work week, costing $771 in lost time and productivity,” the INRIX report mentioned of the U.S. “Nationwide, this sums to more than four billion hours lost, costing $74 billion in lost time.”
The report, compiled every year by the worldwide transportation knowledge and analytics firm, particulars visitors and transportation knowledge from 946 city areas analyzed worldwide.
Boston ranks 4th in the USA and twelfth on the earth on the 2024 World Visitors Scorecard, based on the INRIX knowledge. Within the U.S., the Commonwealth’s largest metropolis ranked solely behind New York, Chicago — each of which averaged 102 visitors delays per driver — and Los Angeles.
In comparison with the nationwide outcomes, the report discovered Boston drivers misplaced 79 hours and $1,414 sitting in visitors, leading to $2.7 billion misplaced metropolis extensive.
Boston had the biggest year-over-year lower in visitors delay time for any metropolis within the high 25 most congested American cities, the report said.
“Despite Boston’s 10% decrease in delay between 2023-24, it still ranked in the top five most congested cities,” the INRIX report famous.
For 2023, Boston additionally ranked 4th within the U.S., with the everyday driver shedding 88 hours to visitors all year long. Town noticed a giant leap in visitors in 2023, up 14% from 2022.
The report famous some elements impacting visitors traits within the U.S., together with a 8% lower in work-from-home and a 6% enhance in public transit use year-over-year within the U.S.
Public transit use continues to be down 24% from earlier than the pandemic in 2019.
For Boston alone, the report famous U.S. Census knowledge exhibiting 8,000 extra folks folks biked to work than in 2022.
“As workers return to the office, especially in tech-heavy metro areas, congestion is likely to build further,” the INRIX report mentioned of future traits.
The common velocity in Boston’s downtown for drivers was 13 miles per hour, tied for the second slowest within the U.S., INRIX discovered.
Boston additionally had the second busiest highway, on I-93 southbound, ranked on the INRIX’s Busiest Corridors within the U.S. checklist. The visitors hotspot stretches from Charles River to Pilgrim’s Freeway.
Drivers taking the highway at 3:00 p.m. misplaced a complete of 109 hours of visitors on that highway alone in 2024, the report discovered.
Of all of the city areas included, INRIX said 55% noticed elevated visitors delays in comparison with 2023 and 28% skilled a discount.
“The movement of people, goods and services creates demand for road travel, but when demand exceeds the supply of road space, it results in congestion,” the report states. “This means that while traffic congestion has a negative impact to the economy, it’s a symptom of economic activity.”
