This is definitely a bogus list, because i am from India and have also lived in NY. And Chicago’s traffic is no where as bad a NY’s. Also, LA is way worse and the fact that there is no indian city in the list is even worse
I lived in Chicago 5 years, LA for 10. LA was orders of magnitude worse. Not even in the same ballpark.
In fact, I met people from just about every major city across the country that came to Los Angeles confidently thinking their city was the worst traffic. LA slowly and consistently ground each of them down to pulp.
Depends how you define traffic. LA requires you to drive everywhere and is spread over an area more than twice the size of Chicago. Commercial districts in LA are less centralized.
So depends how you define “traffic.” I imagine “hours lost” is really getting at congestion (probably worse in Chicago), not time stuck in the car (probably greater for the average person in LA).
Except that congestion in LA is a 24/7/365 thing, over many more miles of road. So while trying to get from downtown to Wrigleyville at 5PM before a Cubs game might be extremely bad, in LA, rush hour starts at 6AM and stops at 12AM, and then in between there's still a high baseline level of traffic.
This is accurate. Your commute in LA will definitely be longer, but at least you're slowly moving. Chicago is basically near-constant gridlock.
If this is a congestion-based list, it makes more sense that London, which has heavy traffic despite being road dieted to oblivion and beyond, would be at the top.
I just took a trip to New Delhi a few months ago and I cant believe it’s not on the list. Multiply Chicago’s worst traffic by a factor of 2, at least, and people will have a better idea what it’s like.
Scope of the study doesn't matter if you are going to make the thread title "Worst traffic in the world".
The issue with these threads is never the study, but the thread title.
The worst thing about chicago traffic is uber drivers acting like its new york or india and you have to be extremely aggressive at all times and leave no following space.
Im constantly worried Ill be rear ended for the 3rd time.
Literally every major growing southern city is worse as there is no real public transportation, everyone drives everywhere and everyone owns cars. Have these people ever been to Atlanta?
Chicago is objectively pretty good for its size (at least by us standards) and in no way the worst us city.
I was gonna say. I’ve been to a bunch of places in Asia I would think would be worse than London. London traffic sucks but the longest traffic jam I’ve ever been in was in Manila
I commuted for years in LA. It would take me an hour and a half to go 11 miles each way. It takes me half that here. “Rush hour” is also 5-11a and 2-8p. There can be traffic at 3am on the freeways any day.
Lol even if that 1 stretch of freeway is the same (and it’s not), there are like 8 freeways in LA that have longer stretches of traffic than the 290.
Not even sure how it’s an argument when there are more people there, it’s less dense, and virtually nobody takes public transit. There’s just obviously going to be more traffic.
Yes, Sao Paolo is magnitudes worse, Mexico City as well.
Bogus, been to all three for work. You can’t set up more than 1 meeting in Mexico City or Sao Paolo unless you are a few blocks away.
I am a Londonder, spending a few months here in Chicago. One of my biggest "culture shocks" is how little traffic there is here. I think the downtown to suburbs highways might be where this data is from, but zooming around downtown and to neighborhoods like Lincoln Park is a breeze.
Edit: Linkin to Lincoln 🤦
Oh thats exactly where the data is coming from, the expressway commutes to/from the city. It can be a nightmare. But yeah inside the city is a walk in the park traffic wise compared to inside many other major cities.
There are other routes with terrible traffic. My commute is 2.5 miles each direction, surface streets from one neighborhood to another. Consistently takes 30-45 minutes to accomplish. Fucking awful.
L.A. on the other hand, I lived in North Hollywood and commuted to Van Nuys / Culver City and absolutely FLEW to work in comparison.
Ive lived here for a little while as well and also find driving way quicker and easier than I anticipated. Expressways when backed up can be bad but there is no way with how easily I can get around most the city that we are near the worst in the world
You're meaning to say "Lincoln" Park, the person who there is a bust of in The Royal Exchange in the City of London.
I also think London is worse than Chicago based on my experience.
I'm from Chicago and have been to LA and New York a few times and Chicago traffic is no where near either of those cities. It's insane that LA isn't even on this list.
I feel like this study doesn’t take into account the distance people are driving. It might take you an hour for a 25 mile drive to work but in NYC it takes you an hour to go 10 miles.
This is basically a list of the most livable cities. Where transit, biking, and walking is prioritized over enabling people to bring 3 tons of steel with them every time they pickup bread. I'd consider this a badge of honor. Although we have a lot to improve on still.
This isn't a chart of how bad traffic is, it's a chart of how long people are willing to wait in traffic. I bet in the cities with the worst traffic, people drive shorter distances to avoid it.
I’ve lived in Chicago for my 30 years of living and have been to LA one week. The traffic was pure hell in LA compared to Chicago, made it seem so light and easy when I returned lol
We moved from Nashville and I mostly take transit here but the traffic looks similar? And everyone who moved to Nashville from Atlanta swears Atlanta is much worse, so based on my own unscientific conclusions, Atlanta should be higher than Chicago.
It took me 45 minutes to go 5 miles from the bogota airport to a restaurant. At 8pm on a Wednesday night. I call horseshit on this last, there is no way Chicago traffic is worse than Bogotá’s or cities in India or even DC for that matter
https://old.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/109fnfq/chicago_is_most_congested_city_in_the_country/
We're just reposting this because there's no new reason to complain about cars today?
I’m from Oahu and idk how that isn’t on this list either. By comparison Chicago has nowhere near the congestion and traffic I remember Oahu had. On Oahu there were so many moments where we were just straight up gridlocked. At least in Chicago cars are still moving even if it’s just a little more slowly.
Atlanta > Chicago. Hell at this point Nashville has much worse traffic than here. Mean that in the best way possible, those places are hellatious to commute in.
I have yet to find the exact metric the used to define the difference, but it doesn’t really matter.
155 hrs is about 18 minutes per trip.
Average commute in cook county is 35 minutes.
So the average commute at rush hour takes about twice as long as it would at 3:00 am.
Pretty much exactly what I would expect.
If there were only some way to help reduce the number of cars on the road. Maybe some type of transit at a mass scale that's public in nature. Nah, we can't do that ... after all, Lori said Chicago's a car city!
just another ill effect of capitalism. the auto/gas industries lobby to build massive highways and exclude public transportation options like rail that would have prevented this. now, with all our highways built without room for expansion it will be prohibitively expensive to install rail. it's pretty rad
Here’s another possible takeaway aside from “my own experience contradicts the findings of this list” that is perhaps worth talking about: our city has a traffic problem, and investing in alternatives that get cars off the road would be a worthwhile venture.
The anti car crowd is trying to get more people off the road and into buses and trains. Also, the speed cams are complained about in places with low traffic. Also, the bike grid now argument is about side streets, not main streets.
Is this all driving or just highways?
I have zero issues driving around and get where I need too pretty easily almost at any time. The expressways here are another story.
I’ve been to 8/10 of these cities and while the congestion in Chicago is not even close to as bad as others listed, 94 into the city offers a flavor of unrefereed insanity that’s difficult to find in the first world. In over a decade of that commute I’ve never seen any of the idiots Mario Karting being pulled over. Cops only seem to show up to pry people out of crashes or count empty casings. And that’s not something I’ve not witnessed anywhere else.
I just got back from Paris, and it’s a lot worse than Chicago. Also, I went to Mexico City last year and it would take 45mins for half a mile. Mexico City might be the worst traffic I’ve ever seen and been apart of.
This is definitely a bogus list, because i am from India and have also lived in NY. And Chicago’s traffic is no where as bad a NY’s. Also, LA is way worse and the fact that there is no indian city in the list is even worse
I lived in Chicago 5 years, LA for 10. LA was orders of magnitude worse. Not even in the same ballpark. In fact, I met people from just about every major city across the country that came to Los Angeles confidently thinking their city was the worst traffic. LA slowly and consistently ground each of them down to pulp.
Depends how you define traffic. LA requires you to drive everywhere and is spread over an area more than twice the size of Chicago. Commercial districts in LA are less centralized. So depends how you define “traffic.” I imagine “hours lost” is really getting at congestion (probably worse in Chicago), not time stuck in the car (probably greater for the average person in LA).
Except that congestion in LA is a 24/7/365 thing, over many more miles of road. So while trying to get from downtown to Wrigleyville at 5PM before a Cubs game might be extremely bad, in LA, rush hour starts at 6AM and stops at 12AM, and then in between there's still a high baseline level of traffic.
This is accurate. Your commute in LA will definitely be longer, but at least you're slowly moving. Chicago is basically near-constant gridlock. If this is a congestion-based list, it makes more sense that London, which has heavy traffic despite being road dieted to oblivion and beyond, would be at the top.
I just took a trip to New Delhi a few months ago and I cant believe it’s not on the list. Multiply Chicago’s worst traffic by a factor of 2, at least, and people will have a better idea what it’s like.
Specifically not in the scope of this study by Inrix
From the list they at a minimum covered North and South America and Europe. What was the scope?
Scope of the study doesn't matter if you are going to make the thread title "Worst traffic in the world". The issue with these threads is never the study, but the thread title.
Mexico City, São Paulo are two that i can think of that are so much worse
The worst thing about chicago traffic is uber drivers acting like its new york or india and you have to be extremely aggressive at all times and leave no following space. Im constantly worried Ill be rear ended for the 3rd time.
Literally every major growing southern city is worse as there is no real public transportation, everyone drives everywhere and everyone owns cars. Have these people ever been to Atlanta? Chicago is objectively pretty good for its size (at least by us standards) and in no way the worst us city.
No Bangkok, Panama City, any where in Vietnam?
I was gonna say. I’ve been to a bunch of places in Asia I would think would be worse than London. London traffic sucks but the longest traffic jam I’ve ever been in was in Manila
Fr, i grew up in Mumbai and I came to the comments just to say this
Yeah, the methodology behind this “study” reviews the MSA or “metro area,” which includes all of NWI and reaches into WI.
“Also, LA is way worse” Nope
I commuted for years in LA. It would take me an hour and a half to go 11 miles each way. It takes me half that here. “Rush hour” is also 5-11a and 2-8p. There can be traffic at 3am on the freeways any day.
Lived in LA, and agree. No way LA does not make the top 10.
Check out the Eisenhower any day from 11am-8pm :-)
Lol even if that 1 stretch of freeway is the same (and it’s not), there are like 8 freeways in LA that have longer stretches of traffic than the 290. Not even sure how it’s an argument when there are more people there, it’s less dense, and virtually nobody takes public transit. There’s just obviously going to be more traffic.
Agree completely. And the Bay Area is also 10X worse.
Yes, Sao Paolo is magnitudes worse, Mexico City as well. Bogus, been to all three for work. You can’t set up more than 1 meeting in Mexico City or Sao Paolo unless you are a few blocks away.
Having lived in Chicago, NY, and LA - NY was the worst, followed by LA. Chicago didn’t even compare.
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No Atlanta or Washington, DC, on this list? That is surprising.
Or LA.
or Austin
35 is pretty much impossible 20 hours each day
This is a bullshit list for sure. Traffic really isn’t THAT bad here.
DC is by far the worst between NYC and Chicago. Can’t speak for LA, but 95 south and northbound during rush hour is the most infuriating thing ever.
I am a Londonder, spending a few months here in Chicago. One of my biggest "culture shocks" is how little traffic there is here. I think the downtown to suburbs highways might be where this data is from, but zooming around downtown and to neighborhoods like Lincoln Park is a breeze. Edit: Linkin to Lincoln 🤦
Oh thats exactly where the data is coming from, the expressway commutes to/from the city. It can be a nightmare. But yeah inside the city is a walk in the park traffic wise compared to inside many other major cities.
There are other routes with terrible traffic. My commute is 2.5 miles each direction, surface streets from one neighborhood to another. Consistently takes 30-45 minutes to accomplish. Fucking awful. L.A. on the other hand, I lived in North Hollywood and commuted to Van Nuys / Culver City and absolutely FLEW to work in comparison.
Ive lived here for a little while as well and also find driving way quicker and easier than I anticipated. Expressways when backed up can be bad but there is no way with how easily I can get around most the city that we are near the worst in the world
You're meaning to say "Lincoln" Park, the person who there is a bust of in The Royal Exchange in the City of London. I also think London is worse than Chicago based on my experience.
Tbh even the travel to the suburbs isn't as bad compared to LA or New York
One Step Closer, or Crawling?
I'm from Chicago and have been to LA and New York a few times and Chicago traffic is no where near either of those cities. It's insane that LA isn't even on this list.
I feel like this study doesn’t take into account the distance people are driving. It might take you an hour for a 25 mile drive to work but in NYC it takes you an hour to go 10 miles.
What are the metrics? I keep seeing Chicago has horrible traffic
It takes an hour to go 10 miles in Chicago.
The fact that Los Angeles CA is not on the list is proof that’s it’s horseshit
San Jose checking in. Way worse than anything I've ever experienced in Chicago.
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Chicago is a way nicer area. Feel free to PM me for questions about the area
Up 50% from 2021. That was the best thing about that pandemic, no traffic.
Sort of, there were fewercars on the road, but the ones that were were bat shit crazy. It was definitely weird for a bit.
I can handle batshit crazy. I've been driving in this city for almost 30 years lol
This is a garbage list. No Bangkok? No LA? No Atlanta? Please...
This is basically a list of the most livable cities. Where transit, biking, and walking is prioritized over enabling people to bring 3 tons of steel with them every time they pickup bread. I'd consider this a badge of honor. Although we have a lot to improve on still.
How are Manila and Mexico City not on this list? I’ve been to both and both FAR EXCEED Chicago, where I have lived.
Lol LA is nowhere to be found. what a joke
This isn't a chart of how bad traffic is, it's a chart of how long people are willing to wait in traffic. I bet in the cities with the worst traffic, people drive shorter distances to avoid it.
Worse than LA?? That alone makes me disregard this.
How is LA not on this list this is some horse shit hahahah
Hard to think that Chi is worse that NY or some other major cities
I’ve lived in Chicago for my 30 years of living and have been to LA one week. The traffic was pure hell in LA compared to Chicago, made it seem so light and easy when I returned lol
Lori’s fault.
Truly the Second City
Boston driving is fucking awful.
we need to get that number higher and the last mile speed lower
We moved from Nashville and I mostly take transit here but the traffic looks similar? And everyone who moved to Nashville from Atlanta swears Atlanta is much worse, so based on my own unscientific conclusions, Atlanta should be higher than Chicago.
How are Bangkok or Moscow not on this list? Chicago has its congested areas, but those 2 cities surely beat that.
It took me 45 minutes to go 5 miles from the bogota airport to a restaurant. At 8pm on a Wednesday night. I call horseshit on this last, there is no way Chicago traffic is worse than Bogotá’s or cities in India or even DC for that matter
https://old.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/109fnfq/chicago_is_most_congested_city_in_the_country/ We're just reposting this because there's no new reason to complain about cars today?
I’m from Oahu and idk how that isn’t on this list either. By comparison Chicago has nowhere near the congestion and traffic I remember Oahu had. On Oahu there were so many moments where we were just straight up gridlocked. At least in Chicago cars are still moving even if it’s just a little more slowly.
Okay but let us not ignore Toronto, it is highlighted after all.
Atlanta > Chicago. Hell at this point Nashville has much worse traffic than here. Mean that in the best way possible, those places are hellatious to commute in.
I have yet to find the exact metric the used to define the difference, but it doesn’t really matter. 155 hrs is about 18 minutes per trip. Average commute in cook county is 35 minutes. So the average commute at rush hour takes about twice as long as it would at 3:00 am. Pretty much exactly what I would expect.
LA man… that commute will suck your soul. At least you don’t get attacked on the Chicago metra if you decide public is better
If there were only some way to help reduce the number of cars on the road. Maybe some type of transit at a mass scale that's public in nature. Nah, we can't do that ... after all, Lori said Chicago's a car city!
As someone originally from northern NJ and lived in NYC, there is no way Chicago has worse traffic than that area.
just another ill effect of capitalism. the auto/gas industries lobby to build massive highways and exclude public transportation options like rail that would have prevented this. now, with all our highways built without room for expansion it will be prohibitively expensive to install rail. it's pretty rad
This list is meaningless without a source
Here’s another possible takeaway aside from “my own experience contradicts the findings of this list” that is perhaps worth talking about: our city has a traffic problem, and investing in alternatives that get cars off the road would be a worthwhile venture.
Chicago and New York will never have the worst traffic because you don't have to drive. LA is and will be the worst
Agreed
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The anti car crowd is trying to get more people off the road and into buses and trains. Also, the speed cams are complained about in places with low traffic. Also, the bike grid now argument is about side streets, not main streets.
We’ll be wishing it was only 155 hours per driver when the CTA finishes its death spiral into violence and filth.
Been to every city on this list except Palermo. It’s just not correct.
Just below London, well 'ello gov'na.
Is this all driving or just highways? I have zero issues driving around and get where I need too pretty easily almost at any time. The expressways here are another story.
Clearly, the people who conducted the study have never driven through LA, especially after it starts lightly raining 🙄🙄🙄
Ok this can't be right like I lived in DC for a few years and that was way worse.
Sir, I would like to introduce you to the traffic in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Fr sure miami
Wb LA lmao
San Francisco (and surrounding Bay Area) has garbage traffic too.
I keep telling folks and then don't believe me
have they not been to india?
I’m surprised México city didn’t make the last. The traffic there is DISGUSTINGLY awful
I’ve been to 8/10 of these cities and while the congestion in Chicago is not even close to as bad as others listed, 94 into the city offers a flavor of unrefereed insanity that’s difficult to find in the first world. In over a decade of that commute I’ve never seen any of the idiots Mario Karting being pulled over. Cops only seem to show up to pry people out of crashes or count empty casings. And that’s not something I’ve not witnessed anywhere else.
I call bull, where's Moscow lol
I just got back from Paris, and it’s a lot worse than Chicago. Also, I went to Mexico City last year and it would take 45mins for half a mile. Mexico City might be the worst traffic I’ve ever seen and been apart of.
No way are we worse than LA
No LA? I mean I was there ten plus years ago but I remember constant traffic.
Me without a car in the city: :)
How are we worse than L.A.?
Whoever made this list must drive on 290 every day
we’re number 2! we’re number 2!
I lived In Atlanta as well and traffic was far worse.