NYC Now Most Congested City In US, Overtaking LA, Study Finds

NEW YORK CITY — The coronavirus pandemic gave New York City motorists a reprieve, but gridlock is back in the city – and its worse than anywhere else in the U.S.

New York City's traffic congestion is now worse than famously clogged Los Angeles, according to a study of 2020 traffic by the Texas A&M University Transportation Institute.

Of 15 major American cities surveyed, NYC was the worst last year. The average commuter lost 56 hours stuck in traffic, the study found. In LA, an average of 46 hours was spent sitting in congestion.

But those 56 hours are a big improvement compared to pre-pandemic levels. The study found that it was just 58 percent of the amount of time wasted by motorists in 2019.

“Congestion was flattened in 2020,” the report states.

Traffic in 2020 was like having four distinct traffic years all in one, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute said in a news release.

In January and February, things looked a lot like the previous year. From March through May, the coronavirus shutdown “produced roadway scenes not seen since George H.W. Bush was president and postage stamps cost a quarter,” the report states.

From June through August, when some rush hour traffic returned, By September, delay conditions neared normal rates and remained that way through the end of the year.

Nationally, commuter traffic in 2020 dropped by almost half compared to the year prior.

“The underlying elements of traffic problems – too many car trips, too much rush-hour roadwork, crashes, stalled vehicles and weather issues – have not receded,” Tim Lomax, one of the report’s authors, said in the news release.

“What’s different is that those elements have been eclipsed by plummeting traffic volume.”

Los Angeles had been top of the list for several years.

Moving forward, don’t expect to see the same trends from 2020. Traffic across the nation has mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels, the report’s authors said, citing Texas as an example.

“Congestion levels in Texas and much of the rest of the country have rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels,” Marc Williams, executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, said in the news release.

“In Texas, we continue to see the same underlying causes — a growing population and economy that is producing more passenger vehicle and truck traffic on roadways throughout the state.”