Atlanta joined several other booming Sun Belt cities in ranking among the nation's most traffic-clogged burgs in a study released Tuesday by the navigation system maker and technology company TomTom.
Atlanta topped the fast-growing cities in the South in the rankings, which also included Houston (11), Tampa (15), Orlando (16), Baton Rouge, La. (18), Nashville (19) and Austin (21).
Credit: Andria Brooks
Credit: Andria Brooks
But hey, look at the bright side. It could always be worse. Compared to other major cities around the world , Atlanta only ranked 96th of 174. (If you're curious, the top five cities on the international list in descending order were Mexico City, Bangkok, Istanbul, Rio De Janiero and Moscow).
TomTom’s Traffic Index 2016 provides a comprehensive report of traffic congestion in major cities around the world based upon years of research and 14 trillion data points globally.
According to the study, Atlantans waste 33 minutes a day sitting in congestion, which amounts to 125 hours a year. Highway traffic accounts for 20 percent of the delays, while non-highways account for 28 percent.
The most congested day of the year? That was Nov. 5, 2015, when a truck fire on I-285 blocked the interstate for nearly two hours during the morning commute. Ahh, the memories.
Traffic studies come and go from different companies and service providers, often with conflicting conclusions drawn from different data sets. Atlanta recently ranked 9th on another national traffic congestion study conducted by INRIX.
A 2015 analysis by American Transportation Research Institute found that Spaghetti Junction, the intersection of I-285 and I-85, was the nation's worst freight bottleneck.
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