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Which is Europe's most congested city?

23 April 2010

  • It's not London (that's 4th)…
  • It's not Edinburgh (that's 5th)…
  • It's a good place for sprouts

Brussels, Rue de la Loi. Pic credit: Orland0

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Brussels is Europe's most congested city, according to a new survey by sat-nav manufacturer TomTom.

Using the anonymous speed data captured by its sat-navs, TomTom says drivers in Brussels face congestion on 37.7% of its roads.

It defines congestion as when drivers have to travel at 70% or less of the speed limit, and cities as having a population of 500,000 or more.

Warsaw and Wroclaw in Poland are close behind Brussels in second and third, while London is fourth, with congestion on 34.7% of routes, and Edinburgh fifth on 34.5%.

Six more UK cities make it on to the list. Belfast has the next-worst congestion, followed by Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield and Glasgow.

Germany has more cities than any other country on the list, at 13, with Munich 'leading' the way in 28th spot.

Only two French cities – Paris and Marseille – appear on the list. Zaragoza in Spain take the plum last spot with traffic on just 10.9% of its routes.

TomTom used the data used by its IQ Routes technology which calculates the fastest route for any particular time of day.

Europe's most congested cities


1-30
1.Brussels
2.Warsaw
3.Wroclaw
4.London
5.Edinburgh
6.Dublin
7.Belfast
8.Marseille
9.Paris
10.Luxembourg
11.Milan
12.Rotterdam
13.Birmingham
14.Rome
15.Amsterdam
16.Oslo
17.Barcelona
18.Budapest
19.Naples
20.Poznan
21.Lódz
22.Turin
23.Palermo
24.Prague
25.Genoa
26.Cardiff
27.Vienna
28.Munich
29.Leeds
30.Krakow
Congestion level
37.7
37.5
35.7
34.7
34.5
33.9
31.8
31.2
30.4
29.4
29.4
28.8
28.5
28.0
27.7
26.4
26.3
26.2
26.1
25.4
25.0
24.2
24.1
23.6
22.7
22.6
22.4
22.4
21.8
21.2
31-59
31.Essen
32.Hamburg
33.Lisbon
34.Sheffield
35.Stuttgart
36.Cologne
37.Dusseldorf
38.Berlin
39.Tallinn
40.Helsinki
41.Nuremberg
42.Madrid
43.Frankfurt
44.Hannover
45.Glasgow
46.Bremen
47.Copenhagen
48.Bratislava
49.Seville
50.Bern
51.Vilnius
52.Leipzig
53.Dresden
54.Dortmund
55.Málaga
56.Stockholm
57.Zagreb
58.Valencia
59.Zaragoza
Congestion level
21.1
20.6
20.0
19.5
19.1
18.1
17.9
17.2
16.8
16.8
16.7
16.3
15.3
14.8
14.7
14.6
13.9
13.7
13.6
10.9
10.8
10.6
9.7
9.3
7.9
6.4
5.9
5.3
1.5



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