While traffic in Edmonton can sometimes be a nightmare, it appears Edmontonians have it a lot better than drivers in a number of other cities. In fact, a recent survey shows our city sits in 25th place, out of 26 North American cities surveyed, when it comes to traffic congestion.
The TomTom North American Congestion Index compares travel times during non-congested periods with travel times in peak hours. The report takes into account local roads, arterials and highways. As well as assigning and ranking the overall congestion levels, the report evaluates the congestion levels in cities at different times of the day, on different days of the week.
According to the report, during peak periods it only takes Edmontonians 14 percent longer to reach a destination compared to when traffic is flowing freely.
"It's good news. It's showing that we're doing something right," said Bob Boutilier, Transportation General Manager with the City of Edmonton adding, "When you look at the national average around 21 percent, we're at 14 percent, it's significant. So, you can't suggest that we're, you know, close to other cities."
Boutilier says the number don't lie, and with a drop of seven percent in congestion compared to last quarter, he says Edmonton is definitely doing things differently.
"We do take our traffic movement very seriously. We do work on traffic signals, we widen lanes appropriately for various turns so, we're constantly upgrading the infrastructure."
Boutilier attributes the drop in congestion to a number of factor. First, he says the number of collisions in our city has dropped significantly over the past few years.
"20 to 30 percent over the last three or four years. That means less disruption to the flow of traffic out there."
Secondly, he says more people are choosing to take public transit.
"A lot of people are deciding that's a better way to get downtown than to drive your car."
Despite the results of the survey, some Edmonton motorists aren't convinced.
"It's worse than a lot of cities I've been in," said Rick Graham, a trucker who has driven through many cities across North America.
"The worst part of the whole thing here is all the lights and everything, and there's so much truck traffic going through on one street," added Graham.
Graham is specifically referring to Yellowhead Trail. Between 60,000 and 80,000 vehicles use the route each day- a number projected to grow to 125,000 vehicles by 2044.
"The objective is to be a free flow but, the challenge, like with everything else, is the cost. That project over a period of 10 or 15 years could cost $1 billion," explained Boutilier.
Currently, there is no funding for the project however, Boutilier is hopeful.
"I think we've split it up into enough phases that we could do a first phase for around 20 or 30 million dollars that would help, and I suspect that'll get support in the next period. But, to get this all done, it'll be at least a decade."
Despite congestion on the Yellowhead and few other notoriously busy areas in the city, Boutilier says the numbers are all relative to where you live.
"If you've grown up here and you're used to a commute of 15 minutes and suddenly it's 20 or 30 minutes, of course it's going to effect you but, compared to Toronto, this is like a Sunday afternoon."
See the full breakdown of traffic in Edmonton below:
You can view the entire TomTom North American Congestion Index on the company's website.
With files from Vinesh Pratap.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.