A new report suggests some of Canada's worst traffic bottlenecks are serious enough to compare with those in major American cities like New York and Los Angeles.
The report commissioned by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) found that the most consistently congested stretch of highway in the country, a portion of Highway 401 running through central Toronto, is the ninth most clogged artery in Canada and the United States.
A bottleneck in Montreal, considered the third worst in Canada according to the new research, compares with congestion levels in Boston.
The CAA identified the worst bottlenecks by analyzing provincial and municipal traffic volume numbers along with GPS data over nearly 3,000 kilometres of roads across the country.
It says the report is meant to highlight areas where policy-makers should focus their attention to relieve congestion, which it argues hurts productivity and adds to overall greenhouse gas emissions.
But observers caution against reading too much into the data, saying that not all slow traffic zones are created equal and those in the heart of urban areas need to be viewed differently from major highways.
These are the study's 20 worst bottlnecks in Canada
1. Toronto, Highway 401 between Highway 427 and Yonge Street
2. Toronto, Don Valley Parkway/Highway 404 between Don Mills Road and Finch Avenue
3. Montreal, Highway 40 between Boulevard Pie-IX and Highway 520
4. Toronto, Gardiner Expressway between South Kingsway and Bay Street
5. Montreal, Highway 15 between Highway 40 and Chemin de la Cote-Saint-Luc
6. Toronto, Highway 401 between Bayview Avenue and Don Mills Road
7. Toronto, Highway 409 between Highway 401 and Kipling Avenue
8. Montreal, Highway 25 between Avenue Souligny and Rue Beaubien
9. Vancouver, Granville Street at SW Marine Drive
10. Vancouver, W Georgia Street between Seymour Street and W Pender Street
11. Toronto, Highway 401 between Don Valley Parkway and Victoria Park Avenue
12. Toronto, Black Creek Drive between Weston Road and Trethewey Drive
13. Toronto, Highway 401 between Mavis Road and McLaughlin Road
14. Montreal, Highway 40 between Highway 520 and Boulevard Cavendish
15. Vancouver, Granville Street between W Broadway Street and W 16th Avenue
16. Montreal, Highway 20 near 1re Avenue
17. Quebec City, Highway 73 between Chemin des Quatre Bourgeois and exit to Avenue Dalquier
18. Toronto, Highway 401 interchange at Highway 427
19. Toronto, Highway 400 at Highway 401
20. Vancouver, George Massey Tunnel on Highway 99
The study also identified the worst bottlenecks, ranked by hours of delay, in Canada and the U.S. Here are the top 10.
1. Chicago, I90 between Roosevelt Road and N Nagle Avenue
2. Los Angeles, I405 between SR22 and I605
3. Los Angeles, I10 between Santa Fe Avenue and Crenshaw Boulevard
4. Los Angeles, I405 between Venice Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard
5. Los Angeles, US101 between Franklin Avenue and Glendale Boulevard
6. Los Angeles, I110 between Exposition Boulevard and Stadium Way
7. Los Angeles, US101 between Sepulveda Boulevard and Laurel Canyon Boulevard
8. New York and Union City, Lincoln Tunnel between 10th Avenue and John F. Kennedy Boulevard
9. Toronto, Highway 401 between Highway 427 and Yonge Street
10. New York, I95 between I895 and Broadway
SOURCE: Grinding to a Halt: Evaluating Canada's Worst Bottlenecks
For Canadian cities, the study used Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) data for Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto (including the Hamilton and Oshawa CMAs), Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.