Enlarge image
Traffic jam in NRW (2019)
Photo: Oliver Berg / dpa
Drivers often had to be patient when driving on North Rhine-Westphalia's autobahns in the past year.
In 2022, a third of all traffic jams (33.72 percent) were on motorways in the most populous federal state.
This was announced by the ADAC North Rhine in Cologne.
Almost 160,000 traffic jams were counted on the NRW motorways in 2022.
Overall, according to the ADAC, the duration of the traffic jams was at the level of 2021. More traffic is expected on the motorways again this year.
With 31 percent, NRW also had the largest share in traffic jams, ahead of Bavaria (17 percent) and Baden-Württemberg (12 percent).
There was more free travel in the eastern German states: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia together accounted for only nine percent of traffic jam hours.
"The traffic situation on the NRW motorways has almost normalized over the course of the year, even if the traffic jams were significantly lower than before Corona," said Roman Suthold, the traffic expert of the ADAC in NRW.
The increase in car trips to work instead of working from home had an impact.
In addition, up to 470 construction sites per month and many dilapidated bridges would have pushed the motorway system to its limits, especially at peak times.
According to the ADAC, the duration of all traffic disruptions on the more than 2200 kilometers of motorway in NRW totaled more than 104,000 hours.
»This left motorists stuck in traffic jams and slow-moving traffic for 4341 days.« Construction sites and dilapidated bridges are absolute traffic jam magnets.
The record traffic jams of the year were on the A8
The day with the most traffic jams last year was September 14th in North Rhine-Westphalia.
691 traffic jam hours were counted on Wednesday.
The Wednesday before Ascension Day follows shortly thereafter with 689 traffic jam hours.
According to the mobility club, many motorists had used the long weekend for a short trip.
During the course of the day, there were a particularly large number of traffic jams, especially during the week between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. in the morning and between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. in the afternoon.
The autobahn section with the most traffic jams was the A43 between Wuppertal and Recklinghausen.
The longest traffic jams last year were on the A8 in Bavaria: On Saturday, July 23, the vehicles were 44 kilometers on the Munich - Salzburg motorway from Rosenheim, on December 15 on the Stuttgart - Munich motorway before Fürstenfeldbruck on 40 kilometers.
In order to cushion peak traffic jams, the ADAC called for flexible working hours and home office options for employees.
The potential of the planned 49-euro ticket should also be used.
In order to prevent domino effects from dilapidated bridges, planning and approval procedures should become faster.
jok/dpa
