The Los Angeles area lost its long-held title as the nation’s most traffic-congested region for the first time since at least 1982.
According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s 2021 Urban Mobility Report, the New York-Newark area beat out the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim region to claim the congestion title as defined by total hours of delay. The report found that drivers in the New York-Newark areas spent a collected 494,268 hours stuck in traffic in 2020, well ahead of the 365,543 hours lost by Los Angeles-area drivers.
With COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in place for most of the year, and many Southern Californians working from home, the amount of time lost to traffic congestion was dramatically down last year. By comparison, Los Angeles-area commuters in 2019 spent a collective 952,183 hours stuck in traffic.
"Flexible work hours and reliable internet connections allow employees to choose work schedules that are beneficial for meeting family needs and the needs of their jobs,” report co-author David Schrank said in a statement. “And it also reduces the demand for roadway space, which is beneficial for the rest of us.”