Sit on Interstate 405, which runs through Los Angeles, and see how long it takes to go 10 miles. It could take an hour or more. How about the stretch of Interstate 95 that runs from New York City along the south shore of Connecticut? The wait is probably as long. People driving out of American cities face traffic jams that are unimaginable. But are they long compared to some cities outside the United States? The answer is an absolute yes.

Many of the cities with the worst traffic are those with the highest populations. They include cities in India and Russia. Why? Simply because of the number of people. Another reason is the quality of roads and whether they have been built to hold the number of cars that travel through them.

Traffic declined in many cities in 2020 due to pandemic-related lockdowns, business closings and an increase in work-from-home opportunities. As the threat of COVID-19 recedes in many places and cities open up again, of course, traffic is rebounding. It may not reach former levels, though, at least for a while, as many companies still permit their employees to work remotely.

Based on data from the Netherlands-based mapmaking and location technology company TomTom, 24/7 Wall St. has chosen the worst city or metro area for traffic around the world, based on total days of low traffic and traffic congestion score for the admittedly anomalous year of 2020.

The worst city is Moscow. It has 66 days with low traffic per year, which ranks it at 207 out of the 416 cities. The congestion level in 2020 was 54%, which ranked Moscow at number one.

Click here to see all the world’s worst cities for traffic.

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