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Craig T. Kojima / aug. 25
It’s not just your imagination, traffic congestion in Honolulu has gotten worse. It increased three percent in 2014 from 2013, according to the annual TomTom Traffic Index released Tuesday.
Honolulu-area drivers with a 30-minute commute average 88 hours, or nearly four full days, stuck in traffic each year.
The report ranks Honolulu’s traffic congestion third-worst in the nation, behind top-ranked Los Angeles, and San Francisco, which is in second place. The study was based on the TomTom database, gathered in part from navigational devices, and ranks 200 markets across six continents.
Los Angeles’ overall congestion level is measured by TomTom at 39 percent, compared to 34 percent for San Francisco and 32 percent for Honolulu.
The TomTom data shows that the delay per 30-minute drive in peak periods is 23 minutes, and that the most-congested day was Valentine’s Day 2014, despite the gridlock that occurred the afternoon and evening of Halloween.
The best weekly commutes are on Monday evenings and Friday mornings, while the worst are Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and Friday evenings.
Honolulu’s evening rush hour was ranked at No. 4.
Los Angeles’ evening rush hour ranked first, with a congestion level of 80 percent, followed by San Jose, Calif., (75 percent); and third-ranked Seattle, (74 percent). Honolulu’s congestion level at evening rush hour was 68 percent.
