A newly released National Traffic Scorecard tracking congestion in 100 U.S. cities shows increases in travel time in the first half of 2009 due to the stabilizing economy, stimulus-funded road construction, and low fuel prices.

Traffic congestion during peak periods on major roads in urban America had reached its low point in the second quarter of 2009 and has now started to increase, according to an analysis by the company INRIX. The annual INRIX Scorecard is compiled using tens of billions of data points from over one million GPS-enabled cars and trucks traveling across nearly one million miles of roads.

The report says that traffic congestion across the country is now rising due to signs of economic recovery, initial rollouts of highway construction projects funded by federal stimulus packages, and lower fuel prices. Some 64 of the top 100 most populated cities in the U.S. experienced increases in traffic congestion levels in early 2009.

The report finds that Las Vegas experienced the biggest increase (2.4%) in travel times during peak commute periods year-over-year, most likely due to major construction along I-15 that began in the Summer of 2008. Other noteworthy increases include Baton Rouge (1.9%) and Washington, DC (1.8%) -- seemingly unaffected by the nation's economic turmoil of the past year. Cities with the largest decrease in travel times include Ogden, UT (-5.6%), Bridgeport, CT (-4.5%), San Francisco (-2.8%), San Diego (-2.7%), and Chicago (-2.7%). Reasons for the drops in each region vary -- for example, the completion of a major road construction project in late 2008 and improved winter weather in 2009 contributed to Ogden's decrease, and softer economic conditions hit Chicago, where unemployment surpassed 11% in June 2009.

"Traffic congestion decreased over the past 18 months and hit bottom in the second quarter of 2009. Now, our nation's roadways are starting to jam up again," said Bryan Mistele, INRIX president and CEO. "Traffic is a great indicator of the pulse of the economy and as the economy improves we expect gridlock to head towards 2007's record levels as people return to work, freight transportation increases, and consumers switch back to vacations from staycations."

INRIX also analyzed and ranked the worst metro traffic bottlenecks across the country and found that New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago continued to dominate the rankings. Westbound on the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95) in New York City remains the worst bottleneck in the nation, where traffic crawls more than 90 hours each week at an average of only 11 MPH.

Other findings of the report indicate:

• The typical urban commuter sits 30 hours a year in slow traffic.
• Across the country, off-peak periods -- mid-days, evenings, overnights and weekends -- generally showed small increases in travel times from 2008 to 2009, likely indicating that work zones from construction and maintenance activities have increased. This is a signal that "stimulus projects" are starting to have a noticeable impact.
• Over 2,500 miles of the nation's most important thoroughfares are regularly congested more than five hours each week -- an hour each work day. Over 400 of these miles experience more than 4 hours of congestion each workday.
• While the nation's busiest long haul freight roadways cut across 28 states, more than 95% of this mileage comes from just 10 states -- with 60 percent occurring in Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas.
• Roads that serve as thoroughfares in the middle of the country -- such as I-40, I-75, I-81, and I-35 - show more relative long haul freight usage in general than the roads at the edges of the country, such as I-5 and I-95.

For more information visit the INRIX website at http://www.inrix.com/pressrelease.asp?ID=76.