New Study Ranks Boston Traffic As Fifth Worst in America

For anyone who has ever driven into or through Boston, these recent finding are not a shock.

The 2024 global traffic numbers have been crunched by INRIX.com and Boston ranked as the 5th worst in America and the 12th worst in the world.

In fact, Massachusetts drivers commuting to Boston every day can literally lose days out of their lives with how much time they spend in traffic.

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We all know that sitting in traffic sucks, but I'm not sure I ever really knew just how bad East Coast traffic really is.

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Thanks to the 2024 findings from INRIX.com, now I do.

The sight crunched the numbers on the level of traffic in each large city in the world and found that New York City is worst in the entire country and second only to Istanbul, Turkey in the world.

Yikes.

They also ranked Boston, MA as the 5th worst here in America, even noting that Interstate 93 South between the Charles River and Route 3 is the second-most congested road in the country.

How Much Time Do Boston Drivers Lose in Traffic?

Perhaps more shocking than how bad Massachusetts' capitol city can be for drivers, is the amount of hours people lose each year driving in Boston.

According to INRIX, Boston drivers spend 79 hours a year stuck in traffic.

That's more than three days in your vehicle, just sitting!

Most surprising of the INRIX findings however, is that this number is actually a 10% improvement over the traffic troubles of 2023.

Providence drivers also saw a 6% improvement in traffic from 2023 to 2024, even though they were down half a bridge. In Rhode Island, the average was 30 hours spent sitting in traffic per year.

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For many it probably felt like more. And the SouthCoast isn't unaffected by traffic either.

How Much Time Do New Bedford and Fall River Drivers Spend in Traffic?

If you ever sat in random New Bedford traffic, struggled down the highway through Fall River or sat for infinity at the New Bedford-Fairhaven bridge, then you know even the SouthCoast has traffic.

Only our two largest cities made INRIX.com's list, with Fall River ranking #752 in worldwide traffic and New Bedford at #836.

For New Bedford drivers an average of 11 hours was spent sitting among other cars throughout 2024, a number equal to the traffic of 2023.

Over in Fall River however, traffic congestion went up 17% from 2023-2024, with drivers sitting on the roads for 14 hours of the last year.