Seattle's I-5 bottleneck ranks 17th worst in nation
A study by an advocacy group found the nation's worst traffic bottleneck in terms of hours of delays and Seattle didn't even make it into the top ten.
According to the study, the worst bottleneck in the nation is a stretch of Chicago's Kennedy Expressway.
The study just released by the American Highway Users Alliance assessed bottlenecks, finding that the top 30 cause at least one million hours of delay each per year and three million on average.
The study found the top 50 bottlenecks are concentrated in the nation's largest cities, with the worst being a 12-mile stretch of the Kennedy Expressway near Chicago's Loop business district.
The research found the I-5 corridor through downtown Seattle, our city’s major bottleneck, ranked at Number 17.
The study concludes, “the many curves and reduced visibility in this 1.6 mile stretch along with off-and on-ramps for the downtown area exacerbate
congestion. This bottleneck produces about 1.6 million
hours of annual total delays.”
The study also suggests congestion nationwide cost motorists 16.9 million hours last year and about 6.3 million gallons in wasted fuel.
Eleven of the 30 most severe chokepoints are in the Los Angeles region, with the New York metropolitan area home to five.
The I-35 corridor running through downtown Austin, Texas, is 10th.