Drivers in London sat idle in traffic for 82 hours last year – 10 more hours than 2012, making it the most congested UK city and the second worst in Europe, according to a new report.

Traffic congestion was up in nine of the 18 UK cities analysed by traffic information and driver services provider INRIX.

Based on the amount of hours wasted last year in traffic, the UK’s 10 worst metropolitan areas for driving were: 

Rank	UK Metropolitan Area	Hours Wasted in 2013	Change from 2012 (in hours)
1	London commute zone	82	10
2	Gr. Manchester	46	2
3	Merseyside	39	2
4	S. Nottinghamshire	39	4
5	Gr. Birmingham	33	1
6	Gr. Belfast	31	1
7	S. Yorkshire	26	-1
8	Leeds-Bradford	25	2
9	Avon & N. Somerset	24	0
10	Portsmouth-Fareham	24	-1

Traffic congestion across Europe increased approximately 6% in the last three-quarters of the year.

In the UK, drivers wasted approximately 30 hours in traffic congestion in 2013, one more hour than 2012. 

Overall, motorists in the UK spent less time in traffic than fellow drivers in Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg and approximately 30 fewer hours than travellers in Europe’s worst country for traffic, Belgium.

“So goes traffic, so goes the economy,” said Bryan Mistele, president and CEO, INRIX. “While bad news for drivers, increases in traffic congestion in Europe are signs of a slowly recovering economy.”

The UK economy grew 1.9% in 2013 – its strongest growth since 2007. Unemployment fell steadily throughout the year contributing to the increase in UK traffic congestion as more people headed back to work.  

For the first time, the INRIX Traffic Scorecard this year identifies the worst roads for traffic in the UK and other countries worldwide.

Based on total annual hours of delay in the worst peak period (either morning or evening), the UK’s 10 Worst Roads for Traffic last year were:

Rank	Metropolitan Area	Road(s)	Between	And	Distance (miles)	Worst Peak Period (am /pm)	Total Delay per Year (hours)
1	London	A4	Central London	The M4	14.2	pm	91
2	London	A4	The M4	Central London	14.7	pm	73
3	London	A215	Camberwell	Croydon turn off	9.55	pm	67
4	London	A217	Morden	Chelsea	10.4	pm	67
5	London	A1/A1(M)	Finchley	Barbican	8.43	pm	66
6	London	A23	Croydon	Westminster Bridge Road	8.62	pm	63
7	London	A205	Catford	Woolwich Ferry	6.86	pm	60
8	London	A41	Central London	M1	7.54	pm	52
9	London	A12	Stratford	M25	13.6	pm	50
10	London	A406	Chiswick Roundabout	Neasden Junction	5.88	pm	48

Worst roads outside of London

Rank	Metropolitan Area	Road(s)	Between	And	Distance (miles)	Worst Peak Period (am /pm)	Total Delay per Year (hours)
1	Birmingham	M6	J10 Wolverhampton East	J7 Birmingham (North)	10.22	am	36
2	Edinburgh	A8	Princes Street: Edinburgh	Maybury Road: Edinburgh	5.15	pm	32
3	Glasgow	M8	J13 Provan	J19 Anderston Cross	4.21	pm	26
4	Manchester	A5103	M60 J5: Northenden	Mancunian Way	4.55	am	26
5	Glasgow	M8	J25 Cardonald	J20 Kingston Bridge	8.43	pm	24
6	Edinburgh	A720	Edinburgh Services: Musselburgh	Wester Hailes	10.27	am	23
7	Manchester	M60	J9 Trafford Park	J13 Worsley	4.88	pm	20
8	Manchester	A580	Boothstown: Worsley	Swinton Park Manchester	7.21	pm	20
9	Chester	A51	Turning for Great Barrow: Stamford Bridge	The Bars: Chester City Centre	4.57	pm	19

The amount of time British drivers spent in traffic throughout the year has risen slightly, from 29 hours in 2012 to 30 hours in 2013.

This puts the UK in sixth place in Europe, behind Belgium (first), the Netherlands, Germany, France and Luxembourg respectively.

Drivers in Belgium spent almost twice as long in traffic (58 hours) as British drivers in 2013. The most congested European city is Brussels, where drivers spent 83 hours in traffic last year.

Based on the average hours wasted annually across the countries analysed, Europe’s worst countries for traffic congestion in 2013 were:

2013 Rank	2012 Rank	Country	Hours Wasted in Traffic in 2013	Hours Wasted in Traffic in 2012	Change in Hours Wasted from 2012 to 2013
1	1	Belgium	58	58	no change
2	2	Netherlands	44	51	-7
3	4	Germany	35	36	-1
4	3	France	35	37	-2
5	6	Luxembourg	31	28	3
6	5	United Kingdom	30	29	1
7	10	Italy	25	22	3
8	9	Switzerland	25	22	3
9	7	Austria	22	25	-3
10	11	Ireland	20	19	1
11	8	Spain	17	25	-8
12	12	Hungary	9	15	-6
13	13	Portugal	6	11	-5

 

The traffic situation in mainland Europe in 2013

INRIX analysed data from 13 European countries and the congestion landscape generally aligned closely with each country’s economic outlook.

Those nations struggling with high unemployment and low or negative growth in 2013 typically recorded lower traffic congestion than in 2012.

Spain and Portugal are both examples of this trend: in 2013 Spain’s economy contracted by 1.2% and Portugal experienced record unemployment.

The data shows a marked difference from 2012 where all of the European countries saw decreases in congestion.

In 2013, five nations recorded increases in congestion according to the INRIX Index: the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Italy.

The Swiss and British economies both grew by 1.9% in 2013.

Although full-year figures have not been released for Ireland and Luxembourg, estimates show that Ireland is expected to grow by 1.3% and Luxembourg by 1.9% in 2013.

The general trend is that the countries showing increased congestion have a positive economic outlook, while those economies still struggling are experiencing less congested roads.