Study: Traffic in Tampa fifth worst in North America

If you feel like you are stuck in traffic all the time, you're probably right.

According to a new research study by the GPS maker TomTom, traffic congestion is getting worse in Tampa. 

Last year, this same study ranked the Bay area as the sixth worst traffic city in North America.  This year's results are even worse.

Denise Witherspoon has lived in Tampa all of her life. She says a lot of factors make driving in Tampa difficult.

"More cars on the road, people not paying attention a lot, no courtesy, people going in and out of lanes," she said.

On the 2012 ranking list, Atlanta was named 11th worst traffic city and New York City was 15th.  Tampa Bay was fifth!

Study author Nick Cohn says the ranking isn't really a contest and that Tampa traffic isn't really worse than Atlanta or New York. 

What the study says is drivers are experiencing worse congestion this year than they were last year.

"It's really measuring what's happening in your own city, and then looking quarter to quarter how it's changing," Cohn said. "Because we're not comparing the Tampa network to the New York network.  We're looking at what delay is really measured on the Tampa network itself."

The biggest factor in congestion wasn't caused by the interstates but by the many main arterials.  The worst offenders were Hillsborough Avenue, Gulf to Bay Boulevard, Ulmerton Road and East Bay Drive.

TomTom hopes to release this information four times a year in the future; giving local governments a regular report card on how they're doing.

The TomTom North American Congestion Index