Halifax drivers lost four days in rush hour traffic in 2025: study

A new study found Halifax has some of the worst traffic congestion in Canada.

Most Halifax drivers lost more than four straight days in rush hour traffic across 2025, according to a study by a mapmaking company based in Amsterdam.

TomTom said Halifax ranked third among Canadian cities for worst traffic congestion and average travel time for 2025. It was the only Maritime city to make the list of 13 cities.

The company said the city of Halifax’s average congestion level is 45 per cent, which is on par with 2024. The congestion level is the additional time lost in traffic compared to free-flow conditions.

It takes Halifax drivers an average of 25 minutes and 58 seconds to travel 10 kilometres, which is up by more than 30 seconds from 2024. The average speed in rush hour is 18.7 km/h, which is down one kilometre per hour from the previous year.

“I live outside the city so my shopping habits have changed considerably,” said motorist Barbara Way. “I only come in for appointments and really necessary things.”

The study found congestion levels are at their worst on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with average travel times often taking more than 30 minutes for 10-kilometre journeys.

Ahsan Habib, a professor at the School of Planning at Dalhousie University, said focusing on public transit could help solve Halifax’s congestion woes.

“I always advocate that public transit will be the solution,” Habib said. “We need to reduce the number of cars. Cogswell interchange as well as Windsor exchange will improve some flows, but we have some inherent system difficulties.

“I think we are still relying on traditional bus services, but public transit is more than buses. We talk about these long-term ideas to connect to our Downtown, but we haven’t seen yet anything in place particularly for a rapid mass public transit system.”

According to the study, Halifax drivers who drove 10 kilometres a day lost 111 hours in rush hour traffic in 2025, which equals four days and 15 hours. This number represented a nearly four-hour increase over 2024.

The worst driving down in the city in 2025 was Jan. 29, as the congestion level hit 156 per cent at 1 p.m. and people travelled an average of 3.3 kilometres in 15 minutes at that time of day.

Premier Tim Houston said his government is looking at a “suite of initiatives” to address traffic in the city.

“How are the high occupancy vehicle lanes used?” he said. “Many people sitting in traffic and you’ve got an empty lane sitting right beside you, is there a better use for those?

“Synchronization of lights so that everybody can just move freely along the major roads.”

-With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Jonathan MacInnis

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