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Canada’s worst cities for spending hours and hours in traffic

Wed, Jan 11: According to a study by CAA, Montreal is home to five of the 20 worst bottlenecks in the country. Global's Gloria Henriquez reports – Jan 12, 2017

Canadian roads can seem like the worst when you’re stuck in traffic on the way to work.

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They’re not the worst in the world. But they’re certainly coming closer to that status, according to a new traffic study.

READ MORE: 4 Metro Vancouver roads make list of top 20 worst traffic bottlenecks in Canada

INRIX, a Kirkland, Wash.-based company that provides traffic data and analytics, released its Global Traffic Scorecard for 2016 on Monday.

It found that Montrealers had it worse than any other Canadian city when it came to peak hours spent in congestion.

Montreal drivers spent an average of 52 hours in congestion last year. Toronto commuters came second at just over 45 hours.

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Canadian cities didn’t exactly rank near the top of the world — that was Los Angeles, with 104 hours spent in congestion in peak time periods last year.

It was followed by Moscow (91 hours), New York (89 hours) and San Francisco (83 hours).

But Canadian cities are certainly climbing the charts. In 2015, Montreal ranked 60th of all cities when it came to hours spent in congestion. Last year, it was 23rd.

Construction is shown on the Turcot interchange in Montreal, Wednesday, October 12, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Graham Hughes

At 14 per cent, Montreal’s average congestion rate topped all other cities in Canada and the U.S.

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This rate was derived by taking the percentage of time spent on the road at various times of day and then dividing them to arrive at an average.

This included time spent on the road out of total travel during periods such as peak times on highways in and out of a city, peak periods inside the city, and travel at other times of day and on weekends.

Toronto is also making its way up the rankings. It ranked 53rd in the world last year, up from 84th in 2015.

Afternoon traffic on highway 401 East and West bound in Toronto, Ont. Zoran Milich / File / Getty Images

INRIX derived its results by looking at real-time GPS data alongside traffic flow information in 1,064 cities.

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And it’s not the first traffic study to provide a picture of congestion on Canadian roads recently.

Last month, a study by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) found that Montreal was home to five out of the country’s 20 worst bottlenecks.

Metro Vancouver, meanwhile, was home to four of them.

The very worst bottleneck, however? Toronto’s Highway 401, between Highway 427 and Yonge Street.

Here are Canada’s worst cities for peak hours spent in traffic congestion:

10) Calgary, Alta. — 15.7 hours

A view of Calgary’s skyline on Jan. 9, 2014. Global News

9) Hamilton, Ont. — 16.3 hours

Hamilton, Ont. Eye Ubiquitous/Rex Features

8) Edmonton, Alta. — 17.2 hours

The Edmonton skyline on Monday, Dec. 8, 2014. Kendra Slugoski, Global News

7) Victoria, B.C. — 21 hours

The British Columbia Legislature building in Victoria, B.C. is lit up at dusk. Don Denton/TCPI/The Canadian Press

6) Quebec City, Que. — 29.4 hours

The Chateau Frontenac overlooking old historic Quebec City, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2006. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

5) Vancouver, B.C. — 30.4 hours

Vancouver, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

4) Ottawa, Ont. — 31.5 hours

Parliament Hill in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Lars Hagberg

3) St. John’s, N.L. — 31.8 hours

An overall view of the city after a winter storm hit St. John’s. N.L., Sunday, Jan.5, 2014. .THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

2) Toronto, Ont. — 45.6 hours

Toronto, Ont. Jeremy Cohn / Global News

1) Montreal, Que. — 52 hours

The downtown skyline is seen Wednesday, February 18, 2015 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
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