The volume of traffic congestion on Flanders' major roads is rapidly escalating, reaching alarming levels. Recent data from Statistics Flanders reveals that in May alone, an average of

795 kilometers of traffic jams were recorded per working day, marking the second highest figure since records began, surpassing all but the peak in 2018.

Over the past 12 months, from June 2022 to May, the average daily traffic jam severity reached an alarming 795 kilometers per hour. The latest report by Statistics Flanders states that "the congestion experienced in May 2023 was the second most severe ever recorded."

Although traffic congestion significantly declined during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the trend reversed in April 2021, resulting in a steady increase in the annual average traffic jam severity.

The regions most affected by this mounting issue are Antwerp and Brussels. In May, the Antwerp region alone experienced an astonishing 416 kilometer-hours of traffic congestion per working day, while Brussels witnessed 293 kilometer-hours of gridlock.

To measure traffic jam severity, Statistics Flanders employs an indicator that combines the length of queues with the duration of congestion, quantified in kilometer-hours. For instance, one hundred kilometer-hours signifies a hundred kilometers of traffic jams sustained for an hour or a two-hundred-kilometer congestion lasting half an hour. Photo by Neushorn, Wikimedia commons.