Chicago area ties with NYC for worst gridlock in U.S.
Instead of the “windy city,” Chicago is now the congested city, tying with New York for worst gridlock in the U.S., according to a Monday report.
Analytics firm INRIX found drivers in both metropolises wasted an average of 102 hours in traffic in 2024, compared to 43 hours nationwide.
The Chicago region’s congestion ticked up by 6% from 2023, when motorists spent an average of 96 hours inching along clogged roads.
Meanwhile, the typical speed for a trip downtown was an obscene 14 mph, INRIX reported in its 2024 Global Traffic Scorecard.
What’s to blame? Experts saw a number of causes including major construction projects on I-80, the Kennedy Expressway and Central Tri-State Tollway.
“You can add the ever-increasing volume of interstate truck traffic through those major work projects. I-80, I-294 and the Kennedy all having lane reductions, coupled with the pandemic-sparked explosion in shipping, bringing large commercial vehicles en masse to a critical interstate hub,” veteran traffic reporter Kris Habermehl said.
“You can't get to Wisconsin from Indiana without passing through here,” added Habermehl, CBS 2 Chicago traffic and airborne spot news reporter. “We are the main circuit cable for interstate commerce in the region. We are also surrounded by major airline freight terminals — at both O’Hare and Chicago Rockford international airports, plus massive intermodal yards.”
The third most congested urban area in the U.S. is Los Angeles with drivers stuck in congestion for 88 hours on average, INRIX said.
The Chicago region also gained the dubious distinction of possessing five stretches of road ranking in the top 10 busiest corridors in the nation.
They include:
• No. 5: I-55 southbound between I-90 and Cicero Avenue.
• No. 6: I-90 eastbound between Cicero Avenue and Fullerton Avenue.
• No. 7: I-90 eastbound between Cicero Avenue and Ohio Street.
• No 9: I-290 eastbound between Wolf Road and Harlem Avenue.
• No. 10: I-90 westbound between Ontario Street and West Irving Park Road.
In some good news for Loop retailers and Metra, which is trying to regain lost commuters, trips to Chicago’s downtown surged by 13% from 2023, the second highest increase out of 10 U.S. big cities.
“Every year since 2020, we’ve seen traffic gradually rise toward what it was pre-pandemic,” Scorecard author Bob Pishue of INRIX said. The data shows an increase in commuting, as remote work policies shrink, and more “activity Saturday and Sunday evenings as the downtown core returns to life,” he noted.
But while more commuters returning to city centers is an economic bonus, “each minute spent waiting in traffic results in money and productivity lost,” Pishue said in a statement.
Researchers cited U.S. Census data showing “work-from-home has decreased 8% nationwide, and decreases are expected to continue with more return-to-office mandates in 2025.”