Hamburg is the traffic jam capital of Germany

And that’s even when no protests are impeding the road situation

Currently, many German cities and roads are in the grip of blockages organized by farmers‘ protests. However, traffic jams can be an occasional or a regular issue in many areas even when no such extraordinary events arise.

In that regard, the TomTom Traffic Index, released yesterday by a navigation device company, examined the car traffic speeds in 27 cities and regions in Germany throughout 2023. The results showed that Hamburg was the city where traffic moved the slowest. This city also topped the 2022 ranking.

Drivers in that northern German city needed an average of just under 24 minutes to travel a ten-kilometre route. And it’s gotten worse because the analysis showed that the travel time has increased by half a minute whereas the average speed has dropped by one kilometre per hour in one year alone.

When is traffic the worst in Hamburg?

The ranking shows that the top 5 in this unpleasant urban phenomenon is composed exclusively of large cities in Germany. Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt and Munich follow Hamburg.

Specifically for Hamburg, the study shows that the highest risk of traffic jams is on Thursday afternoons. Then it usually takes half an hour to move 10 kilometres. More specifically, 4 pm is the worst time to drive a car in the Hamburg city centre as it coincides with rush hour traffic.

The recommendation to Hamburg drivers is therefore to avoid travelling during rush hour if possible and if they have a hybrid work schedule where they can choose which days to go to the office then Mondays and Fridays are the least stressful days to do that. During weekends, the situation is much better for obvious reasons.

Traffic flow is influenced by numerous factors. This includes the infrastructure and its condition, traffic density, weather conditions as well as construction sites and roadworks. People's driving behaviour and speed limits also affect traffic flow. And of course, there are things like accidents.