Driving in Chicago can be a real headache.
A new study released by the navigation company TomTom shows Chicago is the eighth worst city in the country when it comes to traffic congestion.
Let's say the average Chicago driver has a 30-minute commute without traffic. When factoring in traffic, that commute becomes 50 minutes, according to TomTom. That means Chicagoans spend an average of 78 hours each year waiting in traffic.
The best way to avoid waiting in traffic is to take the highway instead of city streets, according to TomTom's data. The average congestion level on "non-highways" is 32 percent. On highways, however, it's only 21 percent.
Not surprisingly, traffic congestion is worst during peak rush hour times in the morning and evening on weekdays. The study showed that these rush hour times are not all equal, however.
The worst times for commuting are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings and Thursday evenings. The best times are Friday mornings and Monday evenings.
Despite its poor domestic ranking, Chicago is not among the worst cities for traffic in the world, like Los Angeles.
Local
The study ranked the top 10 worst cities in the world in addition to the top five worst cities in the U.S. Los Angeles took the No. 1 spot on the U.S. list and was the only U.S. city to land a spot on the world list, where it came in at No. 10. Chicago falls at No. 72 out of more than 200 cities in the world.
The worst U.S. cities for traffic are, in order, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, New York and Seattle, according to TomTom.
The top 10 cities in the world for worst traffic are Istanbul, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Moscow, Salvador (Brazil), Recife (Brazil), Saint Petersburg, Bucharest, Warsaw and Los Angeles.
