Dutch GPS manufacturer TomTom has released their 2014 index of the most congested traffic in the world. The index compares travel times during non-congested hours with travel times in peak hours. Portland ranked ninth most congested in the U.S. Seattle was third, topped only by Los Angeles and San Francisco.
According to the report, Portland commuters who normally commute 30 minutes are wasting 71 hours every year on the road.
The Index has critics.
"We've always maintained that their congestion numbers are inflated," said ODOT spokesman Dave Thompson.
Since they are using relative time, you may only have a short 20 minute commute that is delayed by traffic by 10 minutes, which gets a high congestion ranking of 50 percent.
But the TomTom Index isn't the only traffic study painting an ugly picture for Portland commuters.
