Study: Seattle ranked 14th most congested city in country

An inadvertent outcome of the ongoing coronavirus issue is that with many now working from home, traffic has eased of late into Seattle. But previous to that, Seattle actually saw a bit of an improvement in traffic, according to the 2019 Global Traffic Scorecard from Kirkland-based data company INRIX.

Seattle ranks 14th on the list of the most congested cities, an improvement from the previous 6th place position, not that anyone’s feeling the difference. The report found that the average Seattle-area commuter lost 74 hours last year as a result of congestion (compared to going the speed limit), with the cost of congestion per driver estimated at $1095. The average commuter into downtown Seattle lost 99 hours.

For KIRO Radio’s Gee Scott, all the remote work being down as a result of coronavirus concerns offers a window into what life could be like if employers were a little more flexible on coming in.

“I hope after this that some employers are starting to re-evaluate some of these situations by saying, ‘Does Laura need to come into the office, because if not, maybe Laura comes into the office two days a week,” he said.

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“I mean this is an emergency situation,” added co-host Ursula Reutin, “and I think it would only work if they don’t see a loss of productivity, or if over a longer period of time it would have an impact on the economy.”

Boston ranked number one in congestion (with 149 hours lost in traffic), followed by Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York. The American average for hours lost to congestion was 99 hours (a two hours increase from 2017), which collectively costs $88 billion.

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“In the future, maybe three or four months from when this slows down and people start getting back to work, I wonder whether they’re going to say if employees were actually more productive during that time that they were staying home,” Gee said.

“Because if you think about it, the average commute is about 30 minutes to an hour before and after work, and when you get to work you’re tired from the commute, and when it’s time to leave you’re kind of gearing up for the commute, so the productivity that you have can sometimes be less than someone who’s been working from home.”

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.