Maybe we just want to stay in the best city forever.
The city might be a tad quieter right now with many of us working from home and not doing the daily commute, however at home or not, no one likes traffic. And according to a new survey, it seems Glasgow is not the one if you’re in need of making a quick getaway.
The study, carried out by Fleet Logging, found that there is quite a significant difference between the furthest distance one can make during rush hour and the distance during off-peak hours in Glasgow. The study investigated how far car owners could drive out of city centres worldwide in one hour during peak and off-peak travel times by analysing data gathered in November during the pandemic.
However, the English capital recorded the slowest traffic for the UK ,with vehicles only able to travel less than 15 miles in an hour out of the city at rush hour and less than 25miles at off-peak times. Regarding the results, Fleet Logging said: “London may have the worst traffic in our study, but it doesn’t have the worst rush hour in relative terms. Glasgow tops the list with a 12-mile discrepancy between rush hour and regular hours. But you can still make it 41.3 miles out of Glasgow during the busy periods – nearly twice as far as you can travel from London during rush hour!”
Glasgow was closely followed by Coventry for some of the worst traffic congestion in the UK, which recorded a difference of 11.9 miles. Third place went to Sunderland with a difference of 11.5 miles and Hull recorded the lowest difference of six miles.
Comparing Scotland’s two largest cities, the study found that Edinburgh was somewhat better to travel in during rush hour with a 9.4 mile difference, however in Glasgow you can travel a lot further within an hour compared to the other side of the Central Belt. Even in rush hour, you can travel up to 15.4 miles further in Glasgow in comparison to Edinburgh.
The traffic management site suggested that Glasgow had the most impactful rush hour due to having three of Scotland’s most congested roads. Topping the leader board for most congested roads is the rather familiar A82 Great Western Road in Glasgow, where traffic averages less than 13mph between St George’s Cross in the city centre and Anniesland. This is then followed by the M74 northbound between junctions three and eight, and in third place is the M8 westbound through Glasgow city centre between junctions 13 and 22.