Mexico City Gridlock Costs Economy $2.5B tradingroom.com.au | |
go to original July 25, 2012 |
Mexico City is the capital of Mexico and with almost 20 million people is the 2nd largest cities in the world. No surprise then when you get into a traffic jam during rush hour. French FMX rider Julien Dupon knows a way to enjoy it however. (Rebel.tv)
MEXICO CITY - Traffic jams in the gridlocked Mexican capital are costing the country's economy more than $US2.5 billion each year, a study shows.
"The figure is evidence of the high social and economic costs of the lack of a national urban development policy," Centre for Sustainable Transport director Adriana Almeida told reporters on Tuesday.
Researchers obtained the figure by multiplying the time each resident lost in traffic by the average hourly wage, Almeida said, presenting results from the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness study.
The sprawling city is becoming "paralyzed by traffic," diminishing its ability to compete in the global market, added Alfonso Iracheta of Mexican urban policy think tank Foropolis.
Cars are crawling through the city at an average speed of just 17kph, more than twice as slow as in 1990, according to the study.
The average car ride is also nearly a half hour longer than it was four years ago - from 53 minutes to an hour and 21 minutes per day - despite huge investments to expand the city's metro, create a network of buses with designated lanes and build a second level on several major roadways.
Latin America's largest urban cluster, Mexico City is home to 21 million people.
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