In a year when the Covid-19 pandemic eliminated commutes for many workers, drivers in the Phoenix metro spent almost two-thirds less time stuck in heavy traffic than they did a year earlier, according to a new report.
Washington state transportation analytics and car services company Inrix's 2020 Global Traffic Scorecard found that Valley drivers lost an average of about 13 hours to congestion in 2020 — down 64% from the 37 hours they spent stuck in traffic during all of 2019.
That analysis compared the worst part of morning and afternoon commute times with times of free-flowing traffic conditions, ranking Phoenix No. 388 for hours lost and calling it the 290th most congested city in the world out of the more than 1,000 cities considered from 50 countries.
Among just U.S. metros, Phoenix ranked 46th for congestion.
