Earlier this week, we shared the note that Seattle commuters waste 66 hours of their life every year sitting in traffic. That number came courtesy of Inrix, which measures traffic figures across the globe.
Digging into their numbers for this most recent study, they also include a rundown of the very worst traffic corridors around the world. Depending on the city, there might be three or four or there might be fifteen (London and Los Angeles have waaaay more).
They noted fifteen specific corridors in the Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue area. Not only that but they also call out the specific day and time when you can expect traffic to be at its worst. We've compiled them below and the lesson appears to be knowing when you really need to avoid these highways most.
If that one up top doesn't look familiar, that's the stretch of I-5 from when you first get into Seattle from the north, approach Northgate Mall and merge with incoming traffic as you go over the bridge into Downtown. If you've ever driven that stretch during rush hour, you know that even a 30-minute average delay sounds conservative.
| Road | From | To | Worst Day/Time | Worst Time Delay (Mins) |
| I-5 | 130th St/Exit 174 | Union St/Exit 165 | Thursday 16:00 | 30 |
| I-405 | 195th St/Exit 24 | WA-908/85th St/Exit 18 | Wednesday 08:00 | 28 |
| I-5 | WA-18/Exit 142 | I-705/WA-7/Exit 133 | Friday 17:00 | 27 |
| I-405 | 4th St/SE 13th St/Exit 13 | Juanita Woodinville Way/Exit 22 | Thursday 17:00 | 26 |
| I-405 | WA-181/Valley Hwy/Exit 1 | 44th St/Exit 7 | Wednesday 08:00 | 24 |
| I-405 | 8th St/Exit 13 | SE Coal Creek Pkwy/Exit 10 | Thursday 17:00 | 24 |
| WA-167 | 15th St (Auburn) (North) | 8th St | Friday 16:00 | 20 |
| I-5 | Ravenna Blvd/Exit 170 | 236th St/Exit 177 | Thursday 17:00 | 19 |
| I-5 | WA-512/Exit 127 | 41st Division Dr/Exit 120 | Friday 17:00 | 18 |
| WA-520 | 124th Ave | 84th Ave | Thursday 17:00 | 17 |
| I-5 | 41st St/Broadway/Exit 192 | Marine View Dr/Exit 195 | Friday 16:00 | 12 |
| I-5 | Corson Ave/Exit 162 | James St/Exit 164 | Wednesday 09:00 | 10 |
| I-5 | Clark Rd/Exit 119 | Berkeley St/Exit 122 | Friday 16:00 | 10 |
| I-90 | Mercer Way/Exit 8 | Mercer Way/Exit 6 | Friday 17:00 | 9 |
| I-5 | 56th St/Tacoma Mall Blvd/Exit 130 | I-705/WA-7/Exit 133 | Thursday 07:00 | 8 |
· Seattle Drivers Will Waste 66 Hours of Their Life Stuck in Traffic This Year [CS]
· Worst Corridors: INRIX 2015 Traffic Scorecard [Inrix]