Britain’s busiest roads have been revealed, with Londoners enduring the worst traffic in the world.
Traffic delays increased in 2022 following the resumption of the pandemic, driving up transport costs and meaning the average UK driver lost 80 hours due to congestion.
Roads in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Belfast and Bristol are among the busiest in the UK, causing long delays.
The average London driver lost £1,377 in traffic jams in 2022, while drivers across the country lost £707.
London tops the global city list for the second year in a row, with the average driver in the capital losing 156 hours – almost a week – to traffic.
The places where motorists spend the most time waiting in traffic have been revealed, with London topping the list by miles
Five of the UK’s busiest roads were found in London and included Mordern Hall Road, Peckham Hill Street and Falloden Way (file image)
Delays have increased in 72% of UK urban areas compared to 2021, according to transport analyst Bob Pishue’s report in the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard.
The report says hybrid working increased from 13% to 24% during the year, while working entirely from home increased from 22% to 14%.
This meant that more people were traveling to city centers than during the pandemic.
Commuting in London costs an average driver £1,377 in wasted time, while a similar driver in Bristol lost £805.
Manchester drivers lost an average of £742.
While the average UK commuter pays £707 in wasted time, they have also paid £122 more for fuel due to soaring oil prices.
The average UK driver lost 80 hours to traffic jams last year, 7 hours more than last year but 35 hours less than in 2019.
For commuters in some cities, there was good news.
Exeter, Cambridge and Cheltenham dropped out of the UK’s ten busiest cities.
The five busiest roads in the UK are all in the capital.
Morden Hall Road is the busiest and peaks at 5 p.m., resulting in an average delay of 12 minutes.
Peckham Hill Street and Falloden Way also cause delays of over 10 minutes for each use and are also busiest during the afternoon rush hour.
Merton High Street and Ravensbourne Road come fourth and fifth on the list of busiest roads.
Drivers in London have faced the world’s worst traffic jams, losing 156 hours or six and a half days to traffic delays in 2022 (file image)
Outside of London, the busiest route is in Birmingham on the A45 East.
England’s second city takes four out of ten places on the list of the busiest roads, including the A435 from Haden Circus to Wynfield Gardens and the A45 West.
Leeds comes second with the A6177 from Bolton Road o Great Horton Road causing delays of 8 minutes on average.
Other roads on the list are in Edinburgh on the A902 West, Sheffield on the A61 from the Moore Street roundabout,
Moore Street in Sheffield is where former BBC presenter Dan Walker was knocked off his bike last month.
While London tops the list of the most congested cities in the world, no other UK city is in the top ten.
Chicago (155 hours) and Paris (138 hours) make up the rest of the three most congested cities, followed closely by Boston (134 hours) and New York (117 hours).
The report’s author, transport expert Bob Pishue, said: ‘It’s great to see civic and business life returning to normal, but unfortunately we’re seeing congestion approaching or even exceeding levels pre-pandemic.
“We need to manage congestion while improving mobility and accessibility in cities to prevent it from harming economic recovery and affecting the quality of life for commuters and residents.”
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