It's no secret that commuting patterns have changed since the pandemic, but here we are, five years later, and a new traffic report is suggesting that traffic volumes are back.
To sum up the glorious gridlock in the D.C. area: "Awful! Terrible! We're originally from [up] north, from Rochester, New York. No traffic at all. Here, it's nuts," commuter Phil Laressa said.
When you take a look at some of the recent numbers from traffic tracking company INRIX, you might agree what we all go through is nuts. The 2024 INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard shows that the average commuter in the region spent 62 hours stuck in traffic last year.
That's equal to a week and a half of work, just in traffic.
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The national average is 43 hours stuck in traffic, so the D.C. area is well above that.
As for some other interesting stats:
- 14% fewer people in the D.C. area worked from home last year
- trips to downtown D.C. were up 6%
Some commuters question whether building more roads is the right answer to help the problem.
Transportation
Reporter Adam Tuss and the News4 team are covering you down on the roads and in transit.
"I think that there's an infrastructure issue. I don't think we use enough mass transit, quite frankly," commuter Mary Martin said.
That's exactly why commuter David says he'd sticking with Metro.
"I take the Red Line a lot to go to work and my office. It runs really well — it's like every 5 minutes during rush hour," he said. "What's not to like?"
According to Metro, ridership on the rails is up 23% when you compare the most recent stats to the same time last year.
The report from INRIX also says D.C. has the 9th worst traffic in the country, and the average speed of a trip in downtown D.C. is just 12 mph, the slowest in the country. However, that may be a good thing when you consider the District's efforts to cut down on serious traffic-related injuries and fatalities.