Philadelphia had the nation’s 5th worst traffic congestion last year, new report says

Philadelphia roads were the nation’s fifth most congested last year, based on travel delays during peak commuting times and other measures, according to the annual global traffic scorecard by transportation analytics firm INRIX.

Drivers lost an average 77 hours during the year to traffic jams commuting on regional roads, wasting 12% more time than in 2023, the data show. That translated to $1,378 per driver in lost time and productivity in 2004.

An accelerating trend of businesses and public agencies mandating employees to return to the office to work fueled much of the increase in traffic congestion in U.S. urban areas and a jump in trips to central business districts, said Bob Pishue, senior economist and transportation analyst for INRIX.

On average, remote work declined by 8% across the nation in 2023, the latest year for which U.S. Census Bureau estimates were available, he said. Western metro areas with heavy concentrations of tech jobs saw the biggest drop.

Working from home fell 33% in the San Jose metro area, 24% in San Francisco region, and 19% in the Seattle metro, the Census Bureau figures showed.

In the Philadelphia metro area, the number of people working remotely decreased 9%, Pishue said.

“So that’s 60,000 fewer people working from home,” putting a large share of them on the roadways, Pishue said. “In all our major cities, there isn’t enough road space where it’s needed to accommodate all of the vehicular demand, that’s why we get traffic congestion.”

Philadelphia government workers returned to their offices last July for five days a week by order of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. She said she wanted city employees to contribute to the safety and vibrancy of Center City

Earlier this week, Amazon required employees to keep a five-day in office work schedule, and traffic has already worsened in already congested Seattle, according to news reports. Other large firms are following suit, including Walmart, AT&T and bank J.P. Morgan.

Traffic congestion is a good sign, in some ways.

”It really is a barometer of economic health,” Pishue said. “It’s stuff being delivered. It’s services being delivered. Plumbers, internet providers, whoever.”

But congestion can also be “a hindrance to economic growth,” he said.

The company says its software draws the geography of a city around the density of the road networks in and surrounding it — closely tracking with defined metropolitan areas. This allows for apt comparisons between cities in the East with rigid municipal boundaries and those with more flexible borders in other parts of the country, Pishue said.

Basically, all of the most popular routes to work in an area are grouped under the name of its largest city.

So many routes in New Jersey, Delaware and in the Pennsylvania suburbs that are heavily used in commuting are also captured in the analysis.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 hollowed out the economies of city centers with mandatory business closures, a historically large shift to remote work and health restrictions.

Downtowns have been recovering, topped in 2024 by Houston, with 35% more weekday trips to the city’s core than in 2023; Chicago (13% more); Dallas (up 12%), and a 10% increase in weekday trips to downtown Atlanta.

Philadelphia was not among the leaders in that trend, but weekday trips into Center City have increased, corroborated by Center City District data measuring foot traffic, retail activity and restaurant business.

In general, fewer trips are made on Mondays and especially Fridays, though INRIX found upticks on both days in most urban centers. Philadelphia had a relatively robust 5% gain in Center City visits on Fridays during 2024, but Monday trips were up 0%.

Weekend trips into downtowns increased nationally in 2024 — 12.5% on Saturdays and 13% on Sundays, indicating growth in tourism and leisure visits by regional residents. The INRIX breakdown for Philadelphia’s weekend trips was not immediately available.

Across the country, 15% more people commuted via transit in 2024, year over year. Public transportation ridership has lagged in its recovery from the pandemic, remaining at 87% of 2019 levels on average.

The increase last year was largely due to increased bus and rail commuting in tech centers like San Jose, San Francisco and Seattle.

In Philadelphia, 13% more people traveled by transit on weekdays in 2024 than in the prior year, INRX found.