Edinburgh named one of most congested cities in UK

EDINBURGH has been named as one of the worst congested cities in the UK behind London according to a new survey of traffic conditions

Traffic on Princest Street. Picture: Ian Georgeson

The Scottish capital ranked six in the top 10 British cities surveyed by road traffic analyst INRIX for its 2015 Traffic Scorecard.

A five-mile stretch of the A8 in Princes Street to Maybury Road was the most congested road with drivers spending an average of 43 hours in gridlock.

The report also found that London was the world’s most congested city out of the 100 surveyed.

Drivers spent an average of 101 hours in gridlock in the capital last year - making it the first city to surpass the 100-hour mark. It also remains Europe’s gridlock capital for the second year running.

Bryan Mistele, president and CEO of INRIX, said: “London is the victim of its own success, with a robust jobs market and a growing economy attracting more people, more construction and consequently more traffic.”

Outside of London, three of the five most congested roads were in Manchester (the A580, M60 and A5103) while Newcastle came fourth with the A1/A1M.

The UK as a whole ranked seventh in the world, with the average commuter spending 30 hours in traffic. The United States, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany all ranked in the top five.

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