Here's how long it takes to drive 6 miles in Indy
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It took drivers in the Indianapolis metro about 12 minutes and 16 seconds to travel 6 miles on average in 2024.
Why it matters: Drivers want to get where they're going — fast. But public transit and pedestrian advocates point to these numbers as evidence that some cities are overwhelmed by cars and need to get serious about alternatives.
What they found: Indy-area drivers each spent an average of 28 hours stuck in rush-hour traffic in 2024, according to TomTom's annual Traffic Index.
- Our 2024 6-mile travel time is also nine seconds slower than 2023.
Zoom out: New York drivers spent a staggering 94 hours a year driving in rush hour on average, based on a twice-daily six-mile trip. That's nearly four days of bumper-to-bumper misery.
- Richmond, Virginia, is a veritable autobahn by comparison, with drivers making a six-mile trip in under 10 minutes on average.
Between the lines: Lots of factors go into how quickly you can drive 6 miles in a given city, including traffic congestion, construction, weather and sheer population density.
- In our case, expect to see those times extended this week with record holiday travel and the looming Indianapolis 500.
How it works: TomTom's report is based on a representative sample of data collected by "over 600 million devices" and "over 61 billion anonymous GPS data points around the world," the company says.
- The numbers are based on city centers, "the densest areas that capture 20% of all trips within the city-connected area," per TomTom.
The bottom line: Stay calm behind the wheel this week. You're probably going to be there for a while.