Washington, D.C., has formally taken the wheel — and slammed on the brakes.
Based on the most recent Shopper Affairs report, the nation’s capital now has the worst site visitors in the US, surpassing Los Angeles and cementing its popularity as a each day grind for drivers. From Northeast to Southeast, from the Beltway to the Hill, pissed off commuters in D.C. aren’t imagining it — they’re residing it. And it’s by no means been worse.
The typical commute within the District has climbed to a nation-leading 33.4 minutes. On weekdays, site visitors congestion stretches for greater than 6.5 hours. Over the course of a yr, that interprets to 71 full days caught in gridlock — the second-highest complete within the nation.
Denise Pennington has had sufficient. A Northeast D.C. resident for 37 years and a Capitol Hill commuter for 18, she mentioned site visitors has turned her each day drive right into a nerve-wracking ordeal.
“It’s worse than it’s ever been,” Pennington mentioned. “You used to have the ability to plan round it — earlier than 7 or after 9:30 — however now, regardless of after I depart, I’m caught. And individuals are driving angrier. Everybody’s simply fed up.”
Virginia and Maryland commuters aren’t spared both.
Baltimore ranks ninth nationwide for site visitors congestion, with a median commute time of simply over 29 minutes and greater than 5.5 hours of weekday congestion.
Drivers from Arlington, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County face the identical logjam each morning and night — feeding the D.C. beast and struggling the implications.
“There’s simply no escaping the site visitors,” mentioned Michael Manville, an city planning professor on the UCLA Luskin Faculty of Public Affairs. He defined that congestion tends to comply with financial prosperity.
“A area with a rising financial system gives plenty of alternative,” Manville mentioned. “So folks need to work there. … The roads in an space with a booming financial system change into overloaded and congested.”
That overload is most evident on the town’s predominant arteries — I-295, New York Avenue, Georgia Avenue — the place rush hour appears to begin earlier and finish later yearly. Even with a relatively low deadly crash charge of 5.95 deaths per 100,000 residents, D.C.’s roads have change into more and more hostile to these simply making an attempt to get to work.
The information exhibits D.C. jumped from second place in 2024 to primary in 2025, passing cities like Los Angeles (now ranked No. 2) and San Francisco (No. 4), each infamous for his or her punishing commutes.
In the meantime, Virginia Seashore was the one Southern metro that improved its rating — a uncommon little bit of reduction in a area trending within the unsuitable course.
For locals, the disaster is private.
“I’m 61 years previous and I’ve lived in Southeast D.C. all my life,” mentioned Lachaughn Warren. “I’ve by no means seen the roads this unhealthy. There’s no good time to drive anymore. It used to really feel like you would work out the site visitors stream. Now it’s simply unpredictable, all day lengthy. It’s chaos.”
