Los Angeles tops list as world's most gridlocked city

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- For the sixth year in a row, Los Angeles, Calif., was ranked as the most congested city in the world, according to a company that studies worldwide traffic.

Last year during peak times, Los Angeles' drivers wasted 102 hours in congestion, followed by New York City and Russia's capital city Moscow tied at 91 hours, according to INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard, which analyzes and ranks traffic congestion impact in 1,360 cities across 38 countries.

Also notable, drivers in Sao Paulo, Brazil wasted 86 hours in traffic jams and San Francisco, Calif., drivers used up 79 hours of their time sitting in congestion.

The United States overall was ranked as the most congested developed country in the world with U.S. cities accounting for 10 of the top 25 worldwide with the worst traffic congestion. On average during peak hours last year, drivers were stuck in traffic 41 hours.

Wasted time is wasted money, the study finds. Between the direct impact of drivers wasting fuel and indirectly through increased business costs that are passed down to households via higher prices, congestion woes in 2017 cost U.S. drivers nearly $305 billion, an average of $1,445 per driver, according to the study.

"Congestion costs the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars, and threatens future economic growth and lowers our quality of life," said Graham Cookson, chief economist at INRIX. "If we're to avoid traffic congestion becoming a further drain on our economy, we must invest in intelligent transportation systems to tackle our mobility challenges."

The most improved U.S. city was South Bend, Ind., a city since 2016 that has seen a 25 percent reduction in peak hours spent in congestion. Also seeing improvements are three Texas cities with El Paso down 13 percent, and Dallas and Austin both down 9 percent.

Narrowing it down to roadways, New York's Cross Bronx Expressway for the third year in a row is dubbed the worst corridor in the country. Drivers on that roadway wasted an average of 118 hours per year.