Skip to main content

UK’s roads most congested in Europe

The results of a European traffic study should surprise few UK drivers. According to the research by Inrix, the UK has Europe’s most congested roads. The study evaluated traffic densities in 123 major cities across Europe and revealed 20,375 areas in the UK where traffic congestion is a problem. By comparison Germany had less than half as many areas where traffic is a problem. This is in spite of the fact that Germany has a significantly higher population than the UK. According to the study, a spot where
November 30, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The results of a European traffic study should surprise few UK drivers. According to the research by 5367 Inrix, the UK has Europe’s most congested roads. The study evaluated traffic densities in 123 major cities across Europe and revealed 20,375 areas in the UK where traffic congestion is a problem. By comparison Germany had less than half as many areas where traffic is a problem. This is in spite of the fact that Germany has a significantly higher population than the UK.

According to the study, a spot where traffic congestion is an issue is a section of road for which a driver has to reduce speed by 65% for a minimum of two minutes. The data used in the research was collated using information from on-board GPS systems and cellphones during September 2016. The study evaluated traffic in cities with populations of 250,000 or more. In the UK, 21 cities of the required size had 20,375 areas of congestion, compared with 8,517 congestion spots in 27 German cities, 5,069 spots in 12 Italian cities, 1,844 spots in nine French cities and 2,335 spots in 16 Spanish cities.

The most congested section of road in Europe is Hamburg’s A7 Autobahn. In the UK, the M25 around London and the A720 Edinburgh bypass suffer the most frequent delays. The M25 in particular carries 250,000 vehicles/day, with the section between Junctions 15 and 16 having the most frequent hold ups for drivers.

The UK Government is planning to spend £1.3 billion on improving the road network, with £220 million being targeted at cutting congestion on sections known to suffer delays.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US capital Washington DC is the country’s congestion capital
    February 5, 2013
    A study by the Texas Transportation Institute has revealed that US capital Washington DC now suffers the heaviest congestion of any city in the country. Los Angeles in California and Houston in Texas have both been regarded as amongst the worst in the US in this regard, suffering long traffic delays due to jams, but the report shows Washington DC to be worse still. The Texas Transportation Institute’s Urban Mobility Report paints a damning portrait of congestion in the US capital. The American Road & Transp
  • Middle East financing for Moscow’s new toll route
    June 12, 2018
    Financing from the Middle East is helping to build the first toll road in Russia’s capital Moscow – Eugene Gerden reports. The first toll road within the Russian capital Moscow will be built this year with financing from a consortium comprising Russian and Arabian investors. This was revealed officially in a recent statement from the Moscow City Government. The heart of the project involves building a relief road for Kutuzovsky Prospekt, a major radial avenue in Moscow, which is known for its luxury stores
  • I-95 Corridor Coalition vehicle probe project massively expanded
    May 4, 2012
    The I-95 Corridor Coalition, the University of Maryland and Inrix have announced a three-year extension and expansion of the I-95 Coalition Vehicle Probe Project (VPP), operational since 2008, that uses crowd-sourced traffic data and advanced analytics techniques to turn billions of data points into insights that are transforming the manner in which member states build, manage and measure their road networks.
  • Repair, recycling and warm mix technology at Italy’s Asphaltica exibition
    May 15, 2017
    As the name might suggest, the Asphaltica show in Verona, Italy was a good place to catch up on new ideas and applications for bitumen technology. Kristina Smith picked out a few highlights.