London has topped the global congestion ranking which covers more than 1,000 cities across 50 countries.
According to the new research by Inrix, motorists spent 156 hours in traffic in London in 2022.
The UK’s five most congested road corridors were all found in London. The most severe was the A219 southbound from Fulham to Morden – a major route out of the capital – on which drivers lost an average of 47 hours last year.
While London topped the table, Bristol was next with 91 hours, followed by Manchester (84 hours), Birmingham (73 hours) and Belfast (72 hours).
London was ranked the world’s eighth most congested city in 2019. Bob Pishue, transportation analyst and author of the report, said: “It is great to see civic and commercial life returning to normal, but unfortunately we’re seeing congestion inching closer to, if not exceeding, pre-pandemic levels.
“We must manage congestion while improving mobility and accessibility in cities to avoid it hurting economic recovery and impacting the quality of life of commuters and residents.”
Outside the UK, Chicago in the US was found to be the world’s second most congested city , with drivers spending an average of 155 hours stuck in traffic. That was followed by the French capital Paris (138 hours) and the US city of Boston (134 hours).
