Report Says Traffic Congestion Getting Worse as Economy Improves

INRIX has released its latest Gridlock Index, which shows traffic congestion in the U.S. According to the company’s latest report, traffic increased by 10% during February, 2013, which is the largest year-over-year increase recorded by INRIX in its Gridlock Index in two years. The score for February was 6.8, which means the average trip was roughly 6.8% longer for commuters.

On a regional basis, gridlock in Chicago increased more than 20% between Feb. 2012 and Feb. 2013. In Phoenix, it went up by nearly 19% during that same period. Next, gridlock in New York increased by nearly 18%, and congestion in Houston went up 10%, during that period.

"Traffic is a great indicator of confidence on the ground," said Bryan Mistele, CEO of INRIX. "People hit the road as they return to work, and businesses ship more freight as their orders increase. IGI shows the pulse of the economy is starting to beat faster."

INRIX collects data from its Traffic Data archive, which is a historical traffic information database that has data from hundreds of public and private sources, and a crowd-sourced network of approximately 100 million vehicles and mobile devices.