The good news: Honolulu no longer ranks as America’s worst city for traffic congestion.
The bad news: It’s now the second-worst.
Among the nation’s top 10 cities for worst traffic, Honolulu saw the biggest decrease in congestion in 2012, yet dropped only one spot — to second place — behind Los Angeles, an annual Inrix Inc. study found. The two cities switched places from 2011.
Drivers in Hawaii’s capital city last year wasted an average of 50 hours sitting in traffic, according to the Kirkland, Wash.-based firm’s annual scorecard, which was released Wednesday. Los Angeles drivers wasted an average of 59 hours, Inrix found.
San Francisco came in third followed by Austin, Texas, and New York to round out the worst five cities for traffic. Bridgeport, Conn.; San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and Boston followed, rounding out the top 10.
The 50 hours Honolulu drivers spent in traffic in 2012 were an improvement compared with the nearly 60 they spent in 2011, Inrix found.
Overall traffic congestion in the U.S. dropped 22 percent, according to its scorecard. Inrix pointed to the slow economic recovery to explain the drop in activity on the road.
However, that activity appears to be coming back. Traffic congestion grew 4 percent both nationally and in Honolulu from January to March 2013 compared with the same period last year, Inrix reported.
"We’re really seeing a strong correlation between return of employment and return of traffic," said Jim Bak, the study’s author. "More people going back to work means … more people are willing to go out and spend money. They’re going shopping, they’re going to a movie."
In addition to the rebounding economy, Honolulu drivers further face imminent, "dramatic" traffic increases from upcoming roadwork, local officials say. Both the city and state transportation departments are playing catch-up on years of overdue repairs. They involve lane closures along some of Oahu’s major highways, such as the H-1 freeway and Pali Highway, as well as about 1,500 lane-miles of worn-down city streets.
"It’s going to affect traffic," Ross Sasamura, director of the city Facilities Maintenance Department, said of the repairs Wednesday. "It will be much more noticeable. That’s the cost that we have to bear" to bring the roads back into satisfactory shape, he said.
According to the Inrix report, Honolulu’s worst section of road is the so-called "Middle Street merge," Lunalilo Freeway between Middle and South Vineyard streets, where it takes 27 minutes to travel four miles, an average speed of just under 9 mph. The freeway stretch ranked 19th worst in the nation.
The most congested hour of the week in Honolulu was 6 p.m. Thursday, when it took an extra 15 minutes to get home, Inrix found.
Department of Transportation Services Director Michael Formby said Honolulu’s growing congestion will be eased by the city’s planned rail system; a "joint traffic management center" among city, state and emergency first-responder agencies slated to open in 2016; better traffic signal timing; and more options for pedestrians and bicyclists.
———
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
