10 U.S. cities with the worst traffic jams

By Jim Gorezelany for Forbes
This past winter has been unkind to motorists. The elements conspired to confine commuters to their cars for hours as they suffered one of the worst climactic outbursts to hit the nation in decades. Worse, such monumental morass only tends to exacerbate what is already crippling congestion in the U.S. According to the annual Traffic Scorecard compiled by the traffic information and driver services provider INRIX in Kirkland, WA, the average driver living in any of the 10 most gridlocked cities in the U.S. wasted an average 47 hours – more than the typical work week – sitting in traffic last year.

Inrix's rankings are not only based on the hours wasted in traffic, but also on an index that factors in how many extra hours it takes to commute in congested conditions.

“The index normalizes the size of roads, allowing us to do an apples to apples comparison between a big city such as New York with many roads, and a smaller city, like Bridgeport,” said Jim Bak, director of community relations at Inrix.

Here are the 10 most traffic-jammed cities stateside.

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