Oct 1, 2017

The U.S. cities with the worst traffic jams for their size

Alayna Treene, Andrew Witherspoon

INRIX Roadway Analytics, a cloud-based traffic analysis tool, identified and ranked 108,000 traffic hotspots in the 25 most congested cities in the U.S.

Data: INRIX; Note: Impact measured by number of jams, average duration in min, and average length in miles; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

More from the study:

  • New York had more traffic hotspots (an area which has the most traffic jams) than any other city, costing drivers an estimated $64 billion by 2026 due to wasted time, fuel and emissions.
  • Los Angeles, which tops the overall INRIX ranking, has 10 of the 25 worst traffic hotspots in America, costing L.A. drivers an estimated $91 billion over the next 10 years.
  • I-95 in Washington, D.C., was the worst overall traffic hotspot, which caused 1,384 traffic jams over the research period, stretching 6.47 miles and lasting 33 minutes on average.

Methodology: To understand the impact of traffic congestion at the street level instead of the household level, INRIX Research used the "bottleneck tool," which identified and evaluated every traffic jam within a customizable study area and time period. Additionally, as traffic jams frequently form at the same location, the bottleneck tool aggregated and summarized these locations.

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Keeping expectations for self-driving cars in check

Argo AI CEO Bryan Salesky. Photo: Courtesy of Argo AI

The rollout of self-driving cars is happening as it should — gradually and safely — Bryan Salesky, CEO of Argo AI, a leading developer of automated driving technology, tells Axios.

The big picture: Self-driving vehicles could help improve safety, reduce traffic congestion and improve access to transportation for many, but those benefits will come slowly and as part of a larger transportation system, Salesky said.

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Assisted-driving systems can lead to complacency behind the wheel

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What they found: After becoming accustomed to driving with advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), like adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist, drivers were nearly twice as likely to engage in distracted driving behavior (texting, adjusting the radio) compared to when they were driving without the systems.

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Railroads cut workers as industry automates, implements cost-cutting strategies

Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

More than 20,000 workers in the railroad industry lost jobs this past year, even as the U.S. economy continued its streak of moderate growth, the Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: Those numbers represent the biggest round of layoffs in the sector since the Great Recession — nearly a 10% drop in rail employment, per Labor Department data. Changes in the rail industry highlight signs of "ongoing pain" in the industrial sector, threatening middle-class jobs, the Post writes.

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