I-476 Traffic Among Nation's Worst, Transportation Firm Says

We always knew that I-476 was bad. But just how bad is it?

Transportation firm Inrix lists the Blue Route as one of the nation's most congested highways and the Philadelphia area's worst.

According to Inrix, I-476 between East Rose Valley Road in Media and the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge in Conshohocken is the worst traffic hotspot in the Philly area.

Philadelphia itself has the 12th most traffic hotspots in the United States with 6,232.

Inrix estimates the cost of all these hotspots in our area will total about $14.7 billion by 2026. This was determined by extrapolating current data on wasted time, lost fuel, and carbon emissions.

The study identified and ranked 108,000 traffic hotspots in the 25 most congested cities in the U.S identified by the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard. Rankings were then calculated by looking at an "Impact Factor," which is based on the duration, length and frequency of traffic jams, the firm said.

New York City has the highest number of hotspots with 13,608. Los Angeles is has the second highest with 10,385.

The worst hotspot in the US is Interstate 95 in Washington D.C., which caused 1,384 traffic jams, stretched 6.4 miles and lasted 33 minutes on average, according to the study.

With reporting from Patch correspondent Max Bennett

Image via Commons courtesy user Krimpet