Traffic Congestion in Europe: INRIX Belgium Traffic Scorecard Provides Revealing Look at Traffic Congestion in Cities Nationwide

KIRKLAND, Wash., Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- INRIX®, the leading provider of traffic information, released the INRIX Belgium Traffic Scorecard, a comprehensive country-wide perspective and city-by-city analysis on traffic congestion. A comparison among six different countries found that Paris is the most congested city on the continent, followed by London.

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Generally, Belgium drivers spend more time in traffic compared to drivers in France, but less than in the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany. With roads clogged with traffic congestion on average 26 hours a week across the country's worst bottlenecks, traffic has a major impact on consumers' daily commute, the Belgian economy and the environment.

The scorecard revealed that the worst place and time to be on Belgium's roads is in Brussels on Monday from 8:00- 9:00 where it takes more than 58 percent longer on average compared to the same journey in uncongested conditions.  Overall, the journey or Travel Time Tax(1) (T3) for Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg was 21 percent, meaning that a random journey along these roads during peak weekday driving hours takes 21 percent longer on average compared to the same journey in uncongested conditions.  The region's T3 is the slightly behind the United Kingdom, slightly ahead of Germany, and nearly 50% greater than France.

By analyzing traffic on major motorways in the region's 22 largest metropolitan areas, the Scorecard provides a comprehensive snapshot into the intractable issues of urban traffic congestion.  According to the report, the Top 5 Most Congested Cities in Belgium(2) span all regions and the worst hours are:

1. Brussels : Drivers waste 65 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst Hour = Monday 8:00-9:00
2. Antwerpen : Drivers waste 64 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst Hour = Friday 17:00-18:00
3. Gent : Drivers waste 33 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst Hour = Thursday 8:00-9:00
4. Liege : Drivers waste 17 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst Hour = Tuesday 8:00-9:00
5. Charleroi : Drivers waste 26 hours per year in traffic(3), Worst Hour = Friday 16:00-17:00

"With roads in Belgium clogged with traffic congestion on average 26 hours a week across the region's worst bottlenecks, traffic continues to have a major impact on European mobility, the economy and the environment," said Hans Puvogel, GM of INRIX Europe.  "Our business is built on knowing what's going on with traffic day in and day out in 20 countries.  The Scorecard, and the data powering the report, will contribute enormously to a better understanding of traffic congestion on French's roads helping governments and businesses free people and commerce from gridlock."

Belgium's Traffic Patterns & Worst Bottlenecks

The INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard takes a micro look at traffic problems all across the region – zooming in on the total hours spent in traffic, worst day of the week for commuting and average speeds for the top 22 cities across Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg, along with hundreds of other details including the identification of the worst traffic bottlenecks the country's drivers crawl through every day.  Unique patterns evolving out of the region's traffic congestion include:

• Worst Traffic Day: Thursday
• Worst Week Day Morning: Thursday
• Worst Commuting Hour: Thursday 8:00-9:00
• Worst Afternoon Commute: Friday
• Best Week Day for Traffic: Friday
• Best Week Day Morning: Friday  
• Best Week Day Commuting Hour: Friday 6:00-7:00
• Best Week Day Afternoon: Monday

In analyzing and ranking the worst traffic bottlenecks across Belgium, the most congested segment is in Antwerpen, a 0,48 km section of the outer ring of R1, direction Berchem at the Linkeroever interchange, which was congested 45 hours a week, with an average speed below 31,2 km/h when congested. According to the report, the Top 10 Worst Traffic Bottlenecks in Belgium are:

1. Antwerpen: R1 heading Berchem up to Linkeroever
2. Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Expo Rom. Stwg.
3. Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Wemmel
4. Brussel: R0 heading St Stevens Woluwe up to Zellik
5. Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Strombeek Bever
6. Antwerpen: E17 heading Antwerpen up to Antwerpen West
7. Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to Zaventem Henneaulaan
8. Antwerpen: R1 heading Rerchem up to Antwerpen Zuid
9. Brussel: R0 heading Groot Bijgaarden up to R22
10. Brussel: R0 heading St Stevens Woluwe up to Groot-Bijgaarden

About the INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard

The INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard uniquely measures Belgium's traffic congestion problem by going beyond the traditional limitations of road sensors and statistical sampling techniques to evaluate real-time traffic on almost every major metropolitan roadway.  It leverages INRIX's Smart Driver Network, the first truly national traffic data collection network which uses a crowd-sourced based approach to collecting traffic information.

Each data report from these GPS-equipped vehicles and devices includes the speed, location and heading of a particular vehicle at a reported date and time with commercial vehicles reporting every minute for up to 7 hours per day.  With the world's largest traffic network, INRIX generates the most comprehensive and timely congestion analyses to date, covering the Benelux region's 22 largest metropolitan areas.  INRIX then processes and blends other relevant traffic-related data such as road sensors, traffic accident and incident data and other resources to provide the most comprehensive and accurate traffic information available.

Rankings and scorecards of the Most Congested Cities in Belgium, along with an executive summary of the report findings are now available at the INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard website at euscorecard.inrix.com. The extensive data powering the INRIX Benelux Traffic Scorecard is immediately available under license for further analysis and review by government agencies and commercial organizations including transportation industry organizations.

To learn more about the Scorecard's findings, you can also register for a free webinar planned for November 10, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. GMT/6 a.m. ET where INRIX Vice President of Public Sector Rick Schuman and GM of INRIX Europe Hans Puvogel will provide a detailed review of key findings and INRIX traffic data can be applied to improving transportation planning, traffic management and measuring system performance.

About INRIX

INRIX® is a leading provider of traffic information with more than 100 customers and industry partners including the Ford Motor Company, MapQuest, Microsoft, NAVIGON AG, TeleNav, I-95 Corridor Coalition, Tele Atlas, TTI, deCarta, TCS, Telmap, ANWB and ADAC. INRIX's strategic partnerships across Europe extends the delivery of the highest quality data and broadest coverage available for personal navigation, mapping, telematics and other location-based service applications in the car, online and on mobile devices.

INRIX Traffic Services leverage sophisticated statistical analysis techniques, originally developed by Microsoft Research, to aggregate and enhance traffic-related information from hundreds of public and private sources, including traditional road sensors and the company's unique network of more than 3 million GPS-enabled vehicles and cellular devices. INRIX delivers highly accurate real-time and historical traffic information today for 20 countries across North America and Europe. To experience the traffic technology revolution behind the next generation of navigation and location-based service applications, go to www.inrix.com.

(1) Travel Time Tax (T3): T3 expresses the average amount of extra time it takes to travel relative to free-flow travel. A T3 of 30%, for example, indicates a 20-minute free-flow journey will take 26 minutes during the peak travel time periods, a 6-minute (30%) journey time penalty. For each road segment, a T3 is calculated for each hour of the week, using the formula T3= Reference Speed (RS) minus Hourly Average Speed (HS)/RS. Note if HS > RS, T3 is set to 0%. T3 is a direct derivative of Travel Time Index, a common metric used in congestion analyses.

(2) Overall Congestion vs. Travel Time Tax (T3): Overall congestion quantifies and ranks the total congestion in a region. Larger regions tend to have more roads and more locations where congestion occurs, hence more overall congestion. Travel Time Tax (T3) equalizes all regions by dividing out the difference in the size of each region's road network – giving a more driver centric view of congestion. For example, London and Birmingham have comparable T3 (25.0% vs. 24.3%) – this implies that an average commuter in both cities faces similar delays. However, London has roughly 5 times more people and more than 3 times more road miles of major highways. So at a system level London has much more overall congestion while individuals in both regions each face similar congestion levels.

An analogy is power consumption – the amount of power consumed in each home is similar to the T3; while the amount of total power consumed in a region is similar to overall congestion. Both measures – power used in each home (T3) and power used overall in the region (overall congestion) – are relevant and thus measured.

(3) Based on a one-way uncongested commute of 30 minutes during peak travel hours

SOURCE INRIX