Next time you hear anyone from Boston or the Beltway bellyaching about the traffic, feel free to flip them the time-honored salute.
Lower Fairfield County has the fifth worst traffic congestion in the country, according to a new study by Kirkland, Wash.-based INRIX Inc.
Only Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York City have worst traffic, even as congestion nationally dropped 30 percent last year, a “startling” figure in INRIX”™s words, after two years of modest increases. Seventy of 100 urban areas studied by INRIX saw a decrease in congestion, which the company attributed to lack of employment coupled with higher gas prices.
Metropolitan New York City was home to four of the 10 most-clogged roadways, including:
Ӣ a 16-mile stretch of the Long Island Expressway;
Ӣ separate three- and six-mile stretches of the Van Wyck Expressway; and
Ӣ a 10-mile stretch of the Brooklyn Queens/Gowanus Expressway.
On average, American drivers spend 40 days annually idling on the road; tack on an extra five hours in lower Fairfield County, which, as was the case in New York City, suffers the worst congestion at 5:30 p.m. on Fridays, according to INRIX.
