Congestion to cost UK drivers £62bn by 2025, INRIX analysis shows

Congestion in the UK's worst hotspots will cost drivers £61.8 billion by 2025, analysis from INRIX has forecast.

Using traffic analysis tool INRIX Roadway Analytics, the company analysed more than 200,000 traffic jams to identify and rank 45,662 traffic hotspots in 123 major cities in 19 European countries.

INRIX also calculated the cost of congestion across all traffic hotspots to identify the price drivers in Europe are estimated to pay over the next 10 years due to time wasted sitting in gridlock.

Graham Cookson, chief economist at INRIX, said: "Only by identifying traffic hotspots and analysing their root causes can we effectively combat congestion.

“Some of the most effective traffic improvement measures have benefited from this approach, like Transport for London's traffic signal optimisation work, which is reducing delays by 13% and could save drivers £65 million a year.

"The Government has taken a similar approach with its Autumn Statement pledge to spend £220m on reducing gridlock at key ‘pinch points’ on the UK’s strategic road network.”

In the UK, INRIX Roadway Analytics identified and ranked 20,375 traffic hotspots in 21 cities.

The ranking was determined by an ‘impact factor’, which multiplied the average duration of a traffic jam with its average length and the number of times it occurred in September 2016.

The cost to drivers due to time wasted in traffic at these hotspots, calculated using the Department for Transport's ‘value of time’, amounts to £61.8bn in the UK by 2025 if congestion levels are not reduced.

London had more traffic hotspots (12,776) and also the highest Impact Factor compared to all cities analysed.

The impact of hotspots in the capital was 28 times more than the average city included in the study, and more than the following four cities combined in the European ranking (Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Madrid).

This also means London pays the highest price with time wasted in congestion potentially costing drivers in the capital £42bn over the next decade.

In the UK, the impact of all traffic hotspots in London, and the potential cost to drivers, is 15 times higher than that of the second ranked city, Edinburgh. Glasgow and Birmingham follow, with Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff, Bradford and Belfast rounding out the top 10.