- Miami ranks 9th worldwide and 5th in the US for worst overall traffic, with average delays of 105 hours in 2022, a 59% increase from 2021 and 30% more than pre-COVID levels.
- Orlando has two traffic corridors ranked 10th and 24th worst in the nation, with drivers losing 17 and 13 minutes during peak rush hour, respectively.
- The typical American driver lost 51 hours to traffic congestion in 2022, up 15 hours from 2021, costing the nation $81 billion, despite a $7 billion decrease from 2019.
Florida cities are facing increased traffic congestion, with Miami ranking 9th worldwide for cities with the worst traffic in the 2022 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, a notable jump from its 32nd position in 2021. Miami drivers experienced an average delay of 105 hours in 2022, a 59 percent increase from the previous year, and 30 percent more than pre-COVID levels. The city also saw a 21 percent decrease in downtown speed, which now crawls along at just 15 mph.
In the United States, Miami ranked 5th among cities with the worst traffic, with a total citywide cost attributed to delays of $4.5 billion and an individual driver cost of $1,773. Comparatively, the worst US cities with high congestion levels included Chicago (155 hours lost), Boston (134), New York (117), and Los Angeles (95). Both Chicago and Miami have more traffic congestion and delays than they did pre-COVID, while Boston, New York, and Los Angeles still lag behind 2019 levels.
Though Orlando didn’t make the worldwide nor national list for overall worst traffic, the tourism mecca has two specific traffic corridors rankedamong the worst in the nation. The 10th worst national corridor is I-4 Eastbound between Exit 72 at FL-528 and Exit 60 at the FL-429 Toll, where drivers lose an average of 17 minutes during the peak 5 pm rush hour. Over the course of a full year, the typical Orlando commuter using that route will spend almost three full days (70 hours) more than a non-delayed commuter.
The state’s second worst traffic corridor (24th worst in the nation) is Orlando’s John Young Parkway Southbound between Vine Street and Pleasant Hill Road, where drivers lose an average of 13 minutes at the peak of the 5 pm rush hour. In 2022, the typical rush hour driver on that stretch of John Young Parkway would sit in traffic for an extra two days and four hours (52 hours total), compared with a normal, non-delayed driving commute every year.
Worldwide, London, Chicago, and Paris remain the top three cities in terms of hours lost due to traffic congestion, with 156, 155, and 138 hours lost respectively. In comparison, cities like Bogota, Boston, Miami, and Toronto saw double-digit increases over 2021, moving up significantly from their previous positions.
According to the report, the typical American driver lost 51 hours to traffic congestion in 2022, up 15 hours from 2021. The cost of these delays increased from $53 billion in 2021 to $81 billion in 2022, a 53% increase. Although the cost of nationwide congestion is down $7 billion from 2019’s high of $88 billion, fuel costs have risen 32%, and collisions have increased by 4%.