Birmingham ‘more congested than Rome’
BIRMINGHAM’S roads are more congested than Rome’s according to a survey of travel times by the users of TomTom satellite navigation devices.
The city was ranked the 13th worst in Europe, and is by some margin the most congested city of England’s ‘core cities’, and the problem is estimated to cost taxpayers and businesses more than £2 billon.
London and Edinburgh are the only other mainland UK cities above Birmingham in the survey, and Leeds is ranked at number 29. Manchester doesn’t feature on the list because its population stands below the 500,000 cut-off point for the survey.
The most congested European city is Brussels, according to the survey, closely followed by Warsaw. Paris, Belfast and Dublin all make the top ten. Rome came in one place below Birmingham, and both Berlin and Madrid are easier to get around than the UK’s second city.
Rankings are based on how fast cars can travel on a city’s road network – as measured by the anonymous speed data TomTom collects every day from drivers who use its devices. Wherever drivers were travelling at 70% or less of the speed limit, traffic was defined as congested.
West Midlands business leaders have long campaigned for improvements to the region’s transport infrastructure.
Katie Teasdale, head of policy at Birmignham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: “As the hub of the UK’s transport network, Birmingham is disproportionately affected by road congestion, which is well-documented to cost the West Midlands region £2.2 billion a year .
“Tackling road congestion is vital but challenging given the likely cut in government infrastructure spend over the next ten years. To be blunt, we’ll need to do more with less.
“The Quick Wins approach, championed by Birmingham Chamber with Centro and Councillors, are quick, cheap changes to local roads suggested by businesses and the public which reduce congestion and support growth. We’ll be looking to see more of these initiatives over the coming years.”
James Watkins, executive director of Business Voice WM said: “For Midlands businesses, being at the heart of the country should be a competitive advantage, but the problems with transport continue. What we need we need after this General Election is action.
“Action on public transport so that bus and train timetables are linked together , action to get more park and ride sites and action on the roads so we tackle the pothole crisis.
“We also need action on rail so that local rail services –such as the Walsall to Wolverhampton service – is restored so that we can relief the pressure on the roads.
“Business knows what has to happen. The wait for real action should be coming to an end”.
1.Brussel
2.Warszawa
3.Wroclaw
4.London
5.Edinburgh
6.Dublin
7.Belfast
8.Marseille
9.Paris
10.Luxembourg
11.Milano
12.Rotterdam
13.Birmingham
14.Roma
15.Amsterdam
16.Oslo
17.Barcelona
18.Budapest
19.Napoli
20.Poznan
21.Lódz
22.Torino
23.Palermo
24.Praha
25.Genova
26.Cardiff
27.Wien
28.München
29.Leeds
30.Kraków
31.Essen
32.Hamburg
33.Lisboa
34.Sheffield
35.Stuttgart
36.Köln
37.Düsseldorf
38.Berlin
39.Tallinn
40.Helsinki
41.Nürnberg
42.Madrid
43.Frankfurt
44.Hannover
45.Glasgow
46.Bremen
47.København
48.Bratislava
49.Sevilla
50.Bern
51.Vilnius
52.Leipzig
53.Dresden
54.Dortmund
55.Málaga
56.Stockholm
57.Zagreb
58.Valencia
59.Zaragoza
