“In the morning and at night it is infamous,” confesses a motorist, disappointed but calm, before the BFMTV microphone. This driver’s observation is widely shared: Bordeaux is very congested.
And the statistics prove him right. According to the TomTom Traffic Index barometer, Bordeaux is the most congested city in France. It takes an average of 31 minutes and 8 seconds to travel 10 km. With this French record, Bordeaux also ranks 24th among the most congested cities in the world, with 113 hours a year lost in traffic jams during rush hours. In the world, Barranquilla, in Colombia, announces 130 hours lost, followed by Calcutta, in India.
As far as French metropolises are concerned, the capital is located very close to Bordeaux, with 28 minutes 53 seconds to travel 10 km. Marseille, Nice and Nantes complete the French ranking.
Congestion as a result of city policy.
According to the Bordeaux city council, congestion in the city is a consequence of the absence of motorways but also of traffic calming measures. For Didier Jeanjean, deputy mayor of Bordeaux Pierre Hurmic: “In Bordeaux, we have brought the city to 30. In front of all the schools, we are calming the streets. […] The neighbors ask us to stop to reduce the speed of the speed bumps on the streets that go too fast.” Measures that, although they penalize motorists, are also considered “virtuous” by the city council.
This ranking was prepared by the GPS company TomTom, classifying 500 cities in 63 countries.
Source: BFM TV
