This fascinating visualization of traffic hotspots in Europe finds that British roads are the most congested in Europe. The visualization, created by INRIX, a company dealing in high-quality public transport datafeeds in real-time to support a BBC News research article. The data was gathered from sat-navs, mobile phones and roadside sensors exposing the worst traffic hotspots in Europe throughout September 2016. The data was gathered from individual cities with population of 250,000 or more.
Using INRIX Roadway Analytics, a new traffic analysis tool and the first of its kind to be available in Europe, the research team analyzed more than 200,000 traffic jams to identify and rank 45,662 traffic hotspots in 123 major cities in 19 European countries. Locations where traffic jams reoccur more than once, typically multiple times per day, were considered as traffic hotspots.
The research reveals that traffic congestion caused by the worst traffic hotspots could cost drivers in Europe £183 billion by 2025 owing to wasted time. As per the analysis, a road becomes a “traffic hotspot” once congestion forces drivers to drop their speed by 65% for at least two minutes.
In the UK, a total of 21 cities were found to have 20,375 traffic hotspots. London alone had 12,776 traffic hotspots, more than any other European city analyzed. The cost of time wasted in congestion could amount to £61.8 billion over the next 10 years for UK, while for London alone this figure is £42 billion by 2025.
Germany was found to have 27 cities with 8,517 traffic hotspots and the economic cost to drivers could amount to €47.6 billion by 2025. Italy had 12 cities with 5,069 traffic hotspots; France 9 cities with 1,844 traffic hotspots and Spain had 16 cities with 2,335 traffic hotspots.
Hamburg’s A7 motorway (at J29HH-Othmarschen) is home to the most congested traffic in Europe and time wasted in jams at this location could run up to €1.3 billion over the next decade. Germany also had the dubious distinction of having the second most busiest traffic hotspot in Europe – Stuttgart A8 W (at J48 B295 Leonberg-West). Belgium’s Antwerp R1 / E19 E and E34 E (at J3 Borgerhout) were ranked third. London had two hotspots — M25 N between J15 M4 and J16 M40 and M25 N between J16 M40 and J17 Rickmansworth ranking fourth and fifth, respectively.
How can the tool help?
The INRIX Roadway Analytics brings a unique set of in-depth analytical tools which enable transport agencies and road directorates to understand what is happening on their network, to benchmark and improve roadway performance, and to maximize the investment of public funds. For instance, the UK government had recently pledged to spend an extra £1.3bn on targeting congestion on roads. With this analytics data in hand, the government can find out exactly where the lion’s share of this investment must go.
INRIX Roadway Analytics also allows users to perform analysis and create reports and other communication analysis and create reports and other communication materials to convey information and recommendations to drivers, decision makers and the general public.
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