Commuters spend the longest time in traffic jams in Berlin

Drivers in Germany spent an average of 40 hours in traffic jams in 2023, three hours more than in the previous year. This is according to the annual Global Traffic Scorecard study by INRIX, a global provider of traffic data and analysis.

According to the study, Berlin tops the list of German cities with the longest traffic jams: Drivers here spent an average of 55 hours per year in traffic jams. Stuttgart (53 hours) and Munich (52 hours) follow in second and third place. In Cologne, commuters spent 50 hours in traffic jams or gridlocked traffic, in Düsseldorf 49 hours and in Bremen and the Ruhr region 45 hours each. Hamburg still performs comparatively well with 43 hours, but even here commuters had to sacrifice more than one additional working week per year for their daily commute.

The study also shows that the volume of traffic in Germany continues to rise steadily, by more than seven percent compared to 2022. Munich (+13 hours) and Düsseldorf (+10 hours) recorded the strongest increase in congestion times compared to 2022, followed by Stuttgart and the Ruhr region (+8 hours). The most congested road section in 2023 is on the A8 in Stuttgart-Ehningen.

The Ruhr region is also strongly represented in the ranking of congestion hotspots, with two sections of the A40 in Duisburg and Essen taking 2nd and 3rd place in the ranking. Three other busy road sections are located on the Mittlerer Ring in Munich, which is once again one of the most congested roads in Germany. Remarkably, however, no more corridors from Cologne appear in the top 10.

Compared to the major urban centers in America and Europe, however, German commuters are still relatively quick to get to work. In the global ranking, New York (101 hours), London (99 hours), Paris (97 hours) and Mexico City (96 hours) are the most congested cities. (aum)