KIRKLAND, Wash. – Sure, traffic is an annoyance to most. But Providence, ranking near the middle among the 100 worst congested metro areas in the United States, doesn’t have much to complain about.
According to the fourth annual Inrix National Traffic Scorecard, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana was the worst area for brake lights, while New York – Northern New Jersey – Long Island came in second; the Chicago – Naperville – Joliet was third.
Providence – New Bedford – Fall River drivers, at No. 49, experience just 4 percent of the congestion that Los Angeles motorists face during the peak traffic period.
“[The United States] is back on the road to gridlock,” said Bryan Mistele, Inrix president and CEO. “Population growth combined with increases in interstate commerce spurred by economic recovery are fueling these increases.”
“With only 150,000 new jobs created in our nation’s urban centers last year, we can expect even worse gridlock when the 6 million jobs lost in the recession return to the nation’s cities,” Mistele added.
Inrix said traffic congestion increased nationwide for 11 consecutive months in 2010; it also noted that drivers experienced a 10 percent hike in travel times last year despite only modest employment gains.
The worst time for Providence metro area drivers is Friday from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m. The two “congested corridors” are on Interstate 95: a southbound 3.2-mile stretch from Exit 27 to Exit 23 and a northbound 4-mile stretch from Exit 17 to Exit 22.
Providence’s “travel time tax” – the percentage of extra travel time a random trip takes – ranked 46 out of the 100 areas at 5.4 percent; Los Angeles ranked No. 1 for the measure while Honolulu, Hawaii, ranked No. 2 despite its overall 2010 congestion placement of 37th.
The least congested metro areas were all in Florida: Bradenton – Sarasota –Venice (98), Lakeland – Winter Haven (99) and Cape Coral – Fort Myers (100).
The scorecard was complied from data reports collected from 4 million GPS-equipped vehicles that were using Inrix’s Smart Driver Network.
