According to the traffic data service provider Inrix, commuters who drive in and out of German cities spent three hours more in traffic in 2024 than they did in 2023.
Traffic wait times increased for commuters driving cars in 53 out of 73 areas across Germany that Inrix examined.
Inrix also identified a sharp increase in the number of trips drivers made to the city centre last year. In Hamburg the hike was 31 percent, in Berlin 27 percent and in Frankfurt 26 percent.
A spokesperson for Inrix told DPA: "This suggests that employees are returning to the office and that city centres have almost recovered from the Covid 19 pandemic."
But it also means that those who travel by car to the city each day for work are suffering longer drives and higher fuel costs.
So where were the traffic hotspots in Germany last year?
Where was traffic on the motorways the heaviest?
The western German city of Düsseldorf landed in first place in the traffic jam ranking. Here Inrix calculated that the average commuter spent 60 hours sitting in traffic last year. That's an increase of 22 percent compared with the year before, and a wait time equivalent of two and a half days.Â
The study's authors said that the traffic increase in the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia was largely due to "numerous construction sites on busy motorway sections". Construction was particularly heavy on the A46 and the A59.
Landing in second place was the German capital Berlin (which had taken the top spot the year before) and Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg. Drivers in both of these cities lost an average of 58 hours to motorway congestion last year.
The city with the fourth worst traffic was Cologne, with 56 hours of 'waiting in traffic time' on average. Munich in Bavaria took the fifth spot with 55 hours.
The most congested section of motorway in Germany was in Duisburg on the A3 going north from Stockweg to the A40.
How do German cities compare globally?
Sixty hours sounds bad until you consider that in the worlds highest trafficked cities - like Istanbul, New York and Chicago - drivers spent over 100 hours in traffic last year.
London had the most traffic of the European cities with 101 hours per commuter on average, and Paris was not far behind with 97 hours.
READ ALSO: The German rules of the road that are hard to get your head around
With reporting by DPA.
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