Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Boston #1 in Basketball, #8 for Worst Commutes

How about those Celtics, huh? Their 17th Championship scored on June 17th. Sweet.

While Boston may be on of America's top sports cities, we are also tops on a notorious list. Inrix, a company that produces traffic systems, just came out with a ranking of the Top 10 worst commutes in the United States.

Los Angeles may not be tops in basketball, but they are #1 for having the worst commutes. Boston came in at #8.

Here is the list of the most congested areas in the US:
1. Los Angeles, CA
2. New York, NY
3. Chicago, IL
4. Washington D.C.
5. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
6. San Francisco, CA
7. Houston, TX
8. Boston, MA
9. Seattle, WA
10. Atlanta, GA

I'm actually surprised that Houston and Atlanta aren't higher on the list. And I had no idea that Seattle had horrible congestion. Every time I've been there, driving has seemed a lot easier than navigating through Boston.

According to a report on the Today show this morning, the worst commute in the US is a strip of road outside of Honolulu, HI from 6 to 7 p.m. on Fridays. This 20 mile stretch can take 2 hours to drive through. Yikes.

Inrix also provided a best/worst day for commuting list. Here it is:
  • Worst Traffic Day: Friday
  • Worst Week Day Commute: Friday PM
  • Worst Commuting Hour: Friday 5-6 PM
  • Worst Morning Commute: Wednesday AM
  • Best Week Day for Traffic: Monday
  • Best Week Day Commute: Friday AM
  • Best Week Day Commuting Hour: Friday 6-7 AM
  • Best Week Day Afternoon: Monday PM

The Boston Globe published their own list of worst bottlenecks in the Boston area. The list basically focused on traffic tie-ups that occur inside the Rt. 128 loop.

Happy trails indeed, huh?

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