List of the most congested cities in Poland. Warsaw off the podium

Traffic jams on Polish roads are a problem that drivers all over the country have to deal with. The list of the most congested cities in Poland is surprising - at the top is a place that few would expect.

Most Poles cannot imagine life without a car. This translates into ever-increasing traffic jams in cities, even the smaller ones have not escaped this problem.

This is a direct result of the number of cars on Polish roads. In the early 1980s, there were 2.3 million of them in the whole country, in 2023, there were almost 27.4 million private cars registered in Poland .

Thanks to the support of the European Union, it was possible to expand the Polish road infrastructure. According to data from the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA), over 5,000 km of national roads, 970 km of motorways and 2,930 km of expressways have been renovated and modernized . However, despite these investments, traffic jams are becoming an increasing problem for drivers.

SEE: 14 lanes in one place. A unique place on the road map of Poland

The main causes of congestion are modernizations carried out during rush hours, alternating traffic on the return routes from work and a lack of driving culture. Particularly problematic are situations when drivers ignore the rules of smooth driving "zipper" , which additionally increases congestion.

Cited by Money, a report by TomTom International BV, a Dutch company that manufactures navigation systems, provides detailed information on traffic jams in 389 cities around the world . The results show how long it takes to travel 10 km during rush hour:

It takes the longest to travel 10 km in these cities:

• Wroclaw - 28.56 min.
• Poznan - 27.04 min.
• Lodz - 26.06 min.
• Krakow - 24 min.
• Warsaw - 23.25 min.
• Bydgoszcz - 23.07 min.
• Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot - 23.06 min.
• Szczecin - 22.4 min.
• Lublin - 21.45 min.
• Bialystok - 19.26 min.
• Bielsko-Biala - 17.05 min.
• Katowice - 14.11 min.

SEE: Three-car collision. Serious accident in Warsaw

Compared to 2013, some cities have seen an improvement. Driving is better in Warsaw (3% improvement), Bydgoszcz (2.4%) and Kraków (1.1%). In turn, the situation in Katowice has worsened - travel time has increased by 3.7% .

In addition to the average time to travel 10 km during rush hour, TomTom also reports the number of hours per year that drivers spend in traffic jams:

• Lodz - 110 hrs.
• Wroclaw - 107 hrs.
• Poznan - 106 hrs.
• Krakow - 98 hrs.
• Warsaw - 90 hrs
• Lublin - 88 hrs.
• Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot - 87 hrs.
• Bydgoszcz - 85 hrs.
• Szczecin - 84 hrs.
• Bialystok - 60 hrs.
• Bielsko-Biala - 52 hrs.
• Katowice - 44 hrs

Although Poland is far from world record holders such as Lima (155 hours per year in traffic jams) or Mexico (152 hours per year), time wasted waiting in traffic jams remains a significant problem for city dwellers.