Cities With the Absolute Worst Traffic in the World

Rome is the European city with the greatest time lost due to congestion — 254 hours a year, or more than 10.5 days — and the second most in the world. Two major reasons why traffic is such a problem in Italy’s capital are old streets and ring roads, a kind of road that encircles a city, which force traffic into areas with dense public transit.

Drivers in Russia’s second-largest city lose about 200 hours, or just over 8 days, a year due to slow-moving traffic. Locals have to allow about 50 extra minutes a day to get to their destination.

Boston is the worst-ranked American city when it comes to traffic congestion. Its geography, age, and density have created a road network that just about breaks down when traffic gets bad. The waiting time, while sitting in traffic, is 15 hours more than the next-worst cities in the U.S. in terms of traffic, Chicago and Seattle.

The second- most populous city in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro is the third-most congested city in South America. Drivers lose 199 hours a year, or more than a week, a year, waiting in traffic. This is a 15% change for the worse compared with 2017. It takes about five minutes to drive a mile in the inner city, which is about 13 mph.

London has the sixth-greatest number of hours wasted sitting in traffic, at 227, or about 9.5 days, a year. The costs of the massive delays amount to $2,200 per driver a year. As a result, London has started to make changes in road space allocation towards cycle, pedestrian, and public transport. The city implemented congestion tolling in 2003.