Traffic, Rome the 15th most congested city in the world: 69 hours lost by car. The record in New York with 101 hours

For the second year in a row New York is the most congested urban area in the world: in 2023, an average New York motorist lost 101 hours behind the wheel due to rush-hour traffic in the most populous city in the United States. It is the highest number among the 947 urban centres analysed, according to Global Traffic Scorecard 2023 by Inrix, a traffic analysis agency. Mexico City moved from fourth to second in the ranking, followed by London (down from second to third), Paris  (where the bicycle also overtook the car as the main mode of transport in the city centre, from fourth to third) and Chicago (which remains fifth). The ranking is based on congestion intensity (in terms of hours lost) recalibrated according to city size.

With the long post-Covid phase over, and despite the spread of remote working compared to 2019, traffic congestion in the world still increased in 2023: in 78% of the urban areas analysed, delays increased. Despite this, 4 out of 10 centres are still below pre-Covid levels. "Traffic," reads the report, "can also be seen as a barometer of the economy. The movement of people, goods and services creates demand for road travel, but when demand exceeds the supply of road space, this results in congestion. This means that although traffic congestion has a negative impact on the economy, it is a symptom of economic activity'.

Scrolling down the list, the first Italian city to be found is Rome: the Italian capital is in 15th position (third in Europe after London and Paris), the same position recorded in the previous edition of the report: on average 69 hours are lost behind the wheel on the streets of the Urbe, +15% compared to 2022, a value that has already reached and surpassed pre-Covid levels (year 2019) and that corresponds to one and a half working weeks. Numbers that are bound to worsen considering the number of construction sites open in the city for the works in view of the Jubilee 2025. In the centre of Rome, the speed of travel within a mile of the centre was 21 km/h (in New York 17.7, in Mexico City 19, in London and Paris 16, in Chicago 17.7) but already in the first quarter of 2024 it dropped by 7% compared to the same peridium in 2023.

After Rome, it is Milan (25th place) the Italian city where motorists were forced to stay longer in their cars because of traffic: 60 hours (+8% compared to 2022) and an average speed slightly higher than in the capital (22.5 kilometres per hour). The other Italian urban area in the top 100 is Torino (94th position, 46 hours lost in one year, +12% on 2022). Then there are Palermo (104th position, 44 hours lost but down 7% on the previous year), Firenze (115th position, 43 hours lost, +16% on 2022). In Milan, Turin and Palermo, hours lost at the wheel are still below the Covid level, in Florence they exceed it by 8%.

Inrix calculated the economic impact of the 'traffic jam' on some economies: in 2023 'car congestion' cost the United States USD 70.4 billion (+15% compared to 2022). In the United Kingdom, motorists had to waste almost £7.5 billion (+11%), while German motorists 'lost time' to the tune of EUR 3.3 billion (+14% year-on-year).