San Diego does not have very bad traffic
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San Diego traffic isn't that bad.
Why it matters: No one likes sitting in their car, but a new report shows San Diego drivers can get where they're going fairly quickly compared to other major metro areas, and that's one headwind facing efforts to boost transit ridership.
Driving the news: It took San Diego drivers an average of about 11 minutes to drive 6 miles in the city in 2024, according to TomTom's annual traffic index, released Tuesday.
- That's about about nine seconds longer than in 2023 but still a far cry from traffic-choked cities like New York and San Francisco, where it took nearly three times as long.
By the numbers: San Diego ranked 56th among major U.S. cities, right between Orlando, Florida and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Between the lines: Our metro region as a whole — rather than just the city center — fared slightly worse, but was still not close to the most congested regions.
- The average travel time to go 6 miles in the entire region was 10 minutes and 27 seconds — good for 49th among all American metro areas.
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 for city centers refer to "the densest areas that capture 20% of all trips within the city-connected area," per TomTom.
What's next: The San Diego Association of Governments, the countywide agency that handles regional highway and transit projects, last year hired a new chief executive from the state's highway agency.
- His term follows a tumultuous run for Hasan Ikhrata, who left after failing to reorient the region to a transit-focused regional vision.