Hamburg's car traffic is getting slower and slower - new numbers are shocking!

Hamburg's car traffic is getting slower and slower - new numbers are shocking!

The current “TomTom Traffic Index” for 2024, published on January 7, 2025, shows that Hamburg has the slowest car traffic in Germany. The Hanseatic city takes fourth place in the city ranking. Drivers in Hamburg city center need an average of more than 25 minutes for a ten-kilometer journey, specifically 25.4 minutes. This represents an increase of 46 seconds compared to last year.

Only Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Leipzig are ahead of Hamburg when it comes to slower traffic. The next northern German cities, Hanover, Bremen and Kiel, take eleventh, 20th and 22nd places with travel times of 21.6 minutes, 18.7 minutes and 17.6 minutes for the same route. In contrast, Bochum, Wuppertal and Duisburg have the lowest average travel times.

Traffic data and trends

In the Hamburg area, the average travel time for a ten-kilometer route is 15.7 minutes, which represents an increase of 25 seconds compared to the previous year. Traffic flow is influenced by factors such as infrastructure, traffic density, weather, construction sites, driving behavior as well as speed limits and accidents. On weekdays at 8 a.m. it takes an average of 28.8 minutes to cover ten kilometers, while on weekends it only takes 19.7 minutes. The slowest weekday traffic is experienced at 4 p.m., when the average travel time increases to 29.8 minutes. On Saturday and Sunday the peak times are at 2 p.m. with 26.1 minutes for the same distance.

As the TomTom data For 2023, the average travel time for 10 km in the city was 23 minutes and 50 seconds, an increase of 30 seconds compared to last year. December 5, 2023, a Tuesday, was the worst day with 31 minutes and 50 seconds for the same route. Over the entire year, Hamburg drivers spent an average of 211 hours on the road, including 74 hours in traffic jams.

Rush hour traffic speed was 22 km/h during the morning rush hour, meaning a time of 27 minutes for 10 km, while in the evening it fell to 21 km/h, meaning 28 minutes for the same distance. The annual CO2 emissions from traffic in Hamburg amount to 904 kg, of which 177 kg are due to traffic jams. The absorption capacity of these emissions corresponds to around 90 trees.

The financial impact of traffic in the city is also significant: the annual cost of driving during rush hour is 720 euros, with 141 euros of this sum attributable to traffic jams. Thursday between 4pm and 5pm represents the worst day for traffic, with travel time for 10km increasing to 29 minutes and 50 seconds.

– Submitted by West-East media