A traffic report card issued this week showed that the Bridgeport region has the fifth worst traffic in the country.
According to the report — put out by INRIX, a leading international provider of traffic information and intelligent driver service — drivers in the Bridgeport metro (defined as stretching from Milford to Stamford) wasted 42 hours in traffic in 2011. The worst time to be on the road in our neighborhood? Friday from 5:30 to 5:45 p.m.
Keep that in mind as you head off on your Memorial Day getaway!
The report showed that Honolulu has the worst traffic, with drivers wasting 58 hours in traffic in that city in 2011. Click here to read the full release on the report card.
Jim Bak, the report’s co-author, said various factors weighed in coming up with the ranking, including congestion and travel times. Bak said the Bridgeport metro area actually fell in the rankings from last year’s report, when it was determined to have the fourth worst traffic in the country.
In fact, the was an overall 30 percent drop in traffic congestion in 2011, Bak said. He theorized that unemployment coupled with high gas prices could have played a role in the dip.
As for our fair state, Bak said Connecticut’s position — between New York and the other New England states — could be the reason for our crummy traffic. “Connecticut is a gateway for people traveling through to other places,” he said.
Whatever the reason, Connecticut’s status as a gridlock hotspot didn’t come as news to a lot people. For instance, Liz Glagowski, a Milford resident who works in Stamford, said traffic is a fact of her existence. “I’ve sat in two hours of traffic to go 25 to 30 miles, so I’m not surprised by this at all,” she said.
Can anyone advise why traffic in CT increases dramatically during the months of May and June every year? I don’t really understand. Is it solely related to the nice weather?
if you are going to include a slide show with the top 10 worst traffic areas, would it not make sense to include a description of the location depicted by the image?
Come on, get a grip!!!!