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Drivers in this state spend the most time in traffic congestion: research

New Jerseyites spend the most time stuck in traffic congestion.

by Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech

FILE - Traffic is seen near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel in Jersey City, N.J., April 27, 2017. State and local governments will soon gain new flexibility to spend billions of federal coronavirus relief dollars on things not directly related to the pandemic, including new roads and bridges and aid to people affected by wildfires, floods and other natural disasters. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Story at a glance

New Jerseyans spend more time stuck in traffic than drivers from any other state, according to a new report.

A recently published Reason Foundation report used data from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s 2021 Urban Report to rank all 50 states by how much time drivers spend in road traffic.  

On average, drivers in urban parts of the United States spent 27.04 hours in traffic delays in 2020.  

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New Jersey drivers spent the most amount of time stuck in traffic — a total of 48 hours that year — while Wyoming drivers spent the fewest hours at just 6.5, according to the analysis.  

Drivers in New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts spent more than 40 hours each in 2020 in traffic congestion.  

Commuters in five states — Wyoming, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota — spent fewer than 10 hours stuck in traffic.  

Here are the 10 states where drivers spent the most time in traffic:  

  1. New Jersey: 48 hours 
  1. New York: 43.2 hours 
  1. Massachusetts: 40.4 hours 
  1. Texas: 34.9 hours
  1. Rhode Island: 32.7 hours
  1. Illinois: 32 hours
  1. California: 31.3 hours
  1. Delaware: 30.8 hours
  1. Connecticut: 30.2 hours
  1. Oklahoma: 29.6 hours
Published on Apr 24,2023

Infrastructure