JOHANNESBURG- THE Gauteng Freeway network upgrades appear to be having a positive impact with Johannesburg no longer the metropolitan experiencing the most congestion in terms of traffic jams.

Cape Town has emerged as the most congested.

This is according to an analysis by Stellenbosch University’s Smart Mobility Laboratory, which aims to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions within the field of intelligent transport systems.

The Smart Mobility Lab provided an expert analysis of the 2016 TomTom Traffic Index Report released last week.

According to the index, Johannesburg was ranked second in South Africa, Cape Town took the unenviable honours of being the most congested city in South Africa and is ranked 47th in the world while East London was third.

This year, Mexico City was classified as the most congested city in the world, followed by Bangkok, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro and Moscow.

Johannesburg has a daily Traffic Index of 27 percent, and a morning peak hour index of 60 percent.

The TomTom Traffic Index considers traffic congestion in 295 cities in 38 countries across the globe.

The TomTom’s historical data shows that traffic congestion is up by 13 percent globally since 2008. Interestingly, there are shocking differences between continents.

The index is released annually to help drivers, cities and transport planners to understand traffic congestion trends but, most importantly, how to improve congestion globally.

“We really want everybody to think about how they can lower the amount of time they waste in traffic every day –and to realise that we all need to play a part. If even just five per cent of us changed our travel plans, we’d improve travel times on our major highways by up to thirty percent. Collectively, we can all work together to beat traffic congestion,” Ralf-Peter Schaefer, Vice President of TomTom Traffic, says.

Smart Mobility Lab says the annual progression of the TomTom Traffic Index data reflects the impact of intervention projects on congestion such as the recent major Gauteng Freeway Improvement Programme.

“A significant reduction in the Traffic Index is observed following the roll out of the freeway improvements between 2010 and 2012,” Smart Mobility Lab adds.

The TomTom data also reveals that in South Africa small cities have shown an increased rate of growth in congestion of nearly 7 percent per annum, which is far higher than the rate observed in larger cities in South Africa and worldwide-typically found to be between 1,5 percent and 3 percent per annum.

According to The Smart Mobility Lab this could reflect the rate of urbanisation in developing countries, particularly in smaller cities and highlights the urgent need for infrastructure and traffic management projects in these countries.