Economy lost £8 billion to traffic jams in 2018 - see the nationwide congestion rankings

13th Feb 2019

Traffic jams cost the UK economy a staggering £7.9 billion last year, new analysis has revealed.

Transport data firm Inrix calculated that congestion on the roads costs an annual average of £1,317 per driver, with London hit hardest.

Motorists in the capital lost up to £1,680 last year due to being stuck in traffic jams, ahead of Edinburgh (£1,219) and Manchester (£1,157).

RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis says the figures show the enormous cost of congestion, from the impact on business to higher levels of air pollution.

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Congestion and slow-moving traffic make it harder to transport goods and people around cities, reducing productivity while increasing air pollution and accident rates.

Analysis shows London and Edinburgh are the UK’s slowest moving cities, with average speeds of just 7mph during peak hours in their central business districts.

When it comes to individual roads, the A406 between Chiswick Roundabout and Hanger Lane in West London is the slowest route in the country.

Here, each driver spent an average of 61 hours sitting in traffic on the road last year, well ahead of the country’s second most congested route, the A23 from Kennington to Thornton Road (56 hours).

Outside of London, the most congested routes were the Leeds Road/Saltaire Road in Leeds and the A34 Stratford Road in Birmingham, which saw drivers spend 44 hours stuck in jams.

Mr Dennis said: “While congestion has for some been seen as a marker of a successful city, there can be no doubting the enormous cost of it.

“Last year UK drivers told us that they are actually becoming more, not less reliant on using their cars – with struggling public transport cited as one of the reasons.

“This is a serious concern when you consider the limited physical space in our cities and the growing pressures to move large numbers of people around to get to their places of work and leisure.”

He added: “Those cities that are best placed to grow will be those that are developing public transport systems that suit the needs of their citizens, and successfully decide the role the private car should play alongside these.”

Curious as to how your area stacks up with the rest of the country? Inrix have published the nationwide rankings:

2018 Impact Rank	Urban Area	Hours Lost in Congestion	Last Mile Speed (MPH)
6	London	227	7
51	Birmingham	134	12
54	Glasgow	99	11
85	Manchester	156	10
86	Bristol	149	8
87	Edinburgh	165	8
90	Sheffield	149	10
98	Leicester	155	11
101	Leeds	143	13
104	Liverpool	119	10
121	Belfast	190	8
131	Cardiff	143	9
140	Nottingham	149	10
142	Hull	151	12
147	Newcastle	90	19

Impact Rank: Impact rank is a calculated commute based upon a city’s population and the delay attributable to congestion. The Impact Ranking includes a weighting based on city population.
Urban Area: The geographic scope of a city as defined by its road network density.
Hours Lost in Congestion: The total number of hours lost in congestion during peak commute periods compared to free-flow conditions.
Last Mile Speed: The speed at which a driver can expect to travel one mile into the central business district during peak hours.

The INRIX 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard rankings

2018 Impact Rank	Urban Area	Hours Lost in Congestion	Last Mile Speed (MPH)
1	Moscow	210	11
2	Istanbul	157	10
3	Bogota	272	7
4	Mexico City	218	9
5	São Paulo	154	10
6	London	227	7
7	Rio de Janeiro	199	13
8	Boston, MA	164	11
9	Saint Petersburg	200	11
10	Rome	254	8
11	Ankara	128	12
12	Izmir	154	10
13	Sydney	138	10
14	Singapore	105	15
15	Berlin	154	11