Istanbul revealed as the most congested city in the world

TomTom’s annual Traffic Index explores traffic congestion in over 200 cities around the world and ranks a total of 146 cities

A view of a traffic jam during a weekday rush hour in March 2014 along Tancredo Neves Avenue, one of the main arteries of Salvador, Brazil. (Lunae Parracho/Reuters) (Lunae Parracho/Reuters)

“Sometimes when we’re stuck in traffic we think it’s never going to end and never going to get better,” George Slavich, assistant professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA told the Los Angeles Times back in 2011. That’s when he was offering commuters strategies to cope with Los Angeles’s 2011 “Carmageddon,” where the media hyped the weekend closure of 10 miles of the 405 Freeway into a major calamity. “We sort of ‘catastrophise’ the situation,” Slavich said, “we take a situation that is relatively limited and we think it’s the worst it’s ever been.”

“Carmageddon” was not as bad as expected, but every day of the work week is pretty miserable if you’re driving in L.A. According to a newly released data from GPS maker TomTom, Los Angeles ranked No. 10 for most congested cites in world last year. The company found that a 30 minute commute in the evening took 54 minutes because of congestion, for a total of 92 hours of extra driving annually.

But Angelenos should consider themselves lucky they’re not in Istanbul or Mexico City.

TomTom’s annual Traffic Index explores traffic congestion in over 200 cities around the world and ranks a total of 146 cities. The data revealed that the average commuter last year traveled an extra 100 hours during the evening rush hour alone.

Here’s TomTom’s top ten:

Istanbul

Congestion Level: 58%

Traffic jams form on a highway in September 2014 during the first day of school in Istanbul. (Ozan Kose/AFP/Getty Images)

TomTom writes: “Commuters in Istanbul experience the worst traffic congestion overall, the evening rush hour is no exception. The average 30 minute drive in the city will take over an hour during evening rush hour, leading to an extra 125 hours wasted stuck in traffic every year.”

World rank compared to other large cities 1/146

Congestion Level on highways 79%

Congestion Level on non-highways 50%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 29 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 110 hr

Most congested specific day Fri, Jul 25, 2014

Total network length 11,230 mi

Total network length highways 249 mi

Total network length non-highways 10,981 mi

Total vehicle distance 91,364 773 mi

Mexico City

Congestion Level: 55%

Mexico City seen through smog in February 2014. (Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)

World rank compared to other large cities 2/146

Congestion Level on highways 46%

Congestion Level on non-highways 59%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 29 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 110 hr

Most congested specific day Fri, Oct 10, 2014

Total network length 32,982 mi

Total network length highways 605 mi

Total network length non-highways 32,376 mi

Total vehicle distance 1,020,838 mi

Rio de Janeiro

Congestion Level: 51%

A traffic jam in Rio de Janeiro in June 2014. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)

World rank compared to other large cities 3/146

Congestion Level on highways 49%

Congestion Level on non-highways 52%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 26 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 99 hr

Most congested specific day Tue, Dec 23, 2014

Total network length 12,197 mi

Total network length highways 122 mi

Total network length non-highways 12,075 mi

Total vehicle distance 15,611,815 mi

Moscow

Congestion Level: 50%

Cars are stuck in a congested traffic on both banks of the Moskva River outside the Kremlin, during heavy snowfall in downtown Moscow in December. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

World rank compared to other large cities 4/146

Congestion Level on highways 67%

Congestion Level on non-highways 45%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 29 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 109 hr

Most congested specific day Thu 25 Dec 2014

Total network length 22,324 mi

Total network length highways 231 mi

Total network length non-highways 22,093 mi

Total vehicle distance 231,398,727 mi

Salvador, Brazil

Congestion Level: 46%

A view of a traffic jam during a weekday rush hour in March 2014 along Tancredo Neves Avenue, one of the main arteries of Salvador, Brazil. (Lunae Parracho/Reuters)

World rank compared to other large cities 5/146

Congestion Level on highways 33%

Congestion Level on non-highways 50%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 24 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 93 hr

Most congested specific day Wed Nov 12, 2014

Total network length 2,375 mi

Total network length highways 30 mi

Total network length non-highways 2,346 mi

Total vehicle distance 2,084,186 mi

Recife, Brazil

Congestion Level: 45%

Cars queue in traffic under the rain in Recife ahead of a World Cup soccer match in June 2014. (Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images)

World rank compared to other large cities 6/146

Congestion Level on highways 37%

Congestion Level on non-highways 55%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 27 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 103 hr

Most congested specific day Fri Nov, 28 2014

Total network length 4,854 mi

Total network length highways 80 mi

Total network length non-highways 4,774 mi

Total vehicle distance 2,684,900 mi

St. Petersburg

Congestion Level: 44%

Cars move along an avenue through a traffic jam, with the air temperature at about minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit in St. Petersburg in February 2012. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)

World rank compared to other large cities 7/146

Congestion Level on highways 25%

Congestion Level on non-highways 46%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 27 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 104 hr

Most congested specific day Thu Dec 25, 2014

Total network length 6,782 mi

Total network length highways 87 mi

Total network length non-highways 6,695 mi

Total vehicle distance 43,824,320 mi

Bucharest, Romania

Congestion Level: 41%

Evening rush hour traffic clogs Calea Victoriei Avenue in March 2013 in Bucharest, Romania. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

World rank compared to other large cities 8/146

Congestion Level on highways 28%

Congestion Level on non-highways 45%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 27 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 103 hr

Most congested specific day Fri 28 Nov 2014

Total network length 3,775 mi

Total network length highways 100 mi

Total network length non-highways 3,675 mi

Total vehicle distance 632,222 mi

Warsaw

Congestion Level: 40%

Traffic is seen on Trasa Lazienkowska, one of Warsaw’s busiest roads connecting the east and west banks of the Vistula River, during rush hour in February 2012. (Peter Andrews/Reuters)

World rank compared to other large cities 9/146

Congestion Level on highways 37%

Congestion Level on non-highways 42%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 25 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 96 hr

Most congested specific day Fri Dec 19, 2014

Total network length 4,772 mi

Total network length highways 222 mi

Total network length non-highways 4,550 mi

Total vehicle distance 8,615,724 mi

Los Angeles

Congestion Level: 39%

Traffic clogs the 101 Freeway as people leave work for the Labor Day holiday in Los Angeles on August 29, 2014. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)

World rank compared to other large cities 10/146

Congestion Level on highways 36%

Congestion Level on non-highways 42%

Delay per day with a 30 min commute 25 min

Delay per year with a 30 min commute 95 hr

Most congested specific day Fri Feb 14, 2014

Total network length 42,217 mi

Total network length highways 1,197 mi

Total network length non-highways 41,019 mi

Total vehicle distance 15,641,975 mi

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