Is Atlanta traffic really that bad?

Submitted by Tom Hicks

In 2007 Atlanta traffic was rated 10th worst of most congested US cites by Intrix. In 2008, it was rated 11th worst. On September 3, 2009 as reported in The Atlanta Business Chronicle it has dropped another point to 12th worst. Also, reported was that Atlanta also improved and dropped down two points in travel time from 19th to 22nd.

Some other interesting numbers that come out of the Intrix report are that out of the 100 most congested areas rated, there are no metro areas that are larger in population that had a better ranking than Atlanta’s. Also, looking over the list of rankings 13-100 there are only 4 metro areas that have more than half of Atlanta’s population. Atlanta’s population is substantially larger than three areas (Seattle, Boston, and San Francisco), all of which were rated as having worse traffic congestion.

Also worth noting from the list is that Atlanta traffic is the least congested of all metro areas with populations over 5 million. The Business Chronicle’s headline of “Atlanta has 12th worst traffic congestion” is accurate, but it would be nice to look at some of the other information that comes out of the report as I did. Based on the Inrix reporting methods it is probably not conceivable that Atlanta’s traffic ever can get any better than say 14th “WORST”.

While I fully support intense debate, the formation committees, and planning by our local and state officials to continue to look for ways to improve our traffic, comparatively speaking it is not that bad. I also realize that there are pockets and locations that on a regular basis that have terrible traffic. However, if you look at other locations similar in size you will find that Atlanta traffic could be worse.

I forgot to mention that Atlanta is a great place to live.