Thanks to the state’s ever-surging population total and the ensuing effect that adding more and more people have had on its largest metropolitan areas, North Carolina’s traffic has only gotten worse in recent years.
Between the U.S. Census taken in 2010 and 2020, North Carolina’s population increased 9.5%, from 9.5 million to 10.4 million. Much of that increase has been centered around cities such as Raleigh, Charlotte and Winston-Salem. Unsurprisingly, that has resulted in those cities seeing the largest increases in traffic congestion statewide, with Winston-Salem seeing the largest uptick, at 33%, followed by Raleigh at 28%.
According to data from the INRIX 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard, traffic in the state that hosts North Carolina sportsbooks has only gotten worse over the past year. Other states had at least one city where the traffic congestion improved, but major cities in NC all reported increased congestion. In fact, Charlotte ranked 16th for most congested traffic among all American urban areas, up from No. 21 in 2022. BetCarolina.com wanted to see which North Carolina city had the worst increase in traffic congestion, according to this report.
Rank | City | % Increase In Traffic Congestion |
1 | Winston-Salem | 33% |
2 | Raleigh | 28% |
3 | Charlotte | 27% |
4 | Greenville | 23% |
5 | Durham | 22% |
Based on INRIX’s data for 2023, Winston-Salem and Raleigh were North Carolina’s biggest movers when it came to traffic congestion. Those two beat out Charlotte’s increase of 27% for the top spots in the Tar Heel State.
Rounding out the top five in the state ate two college meccas, Greenville, the home of East Carolina University, saw a 23% jump in traffic congestion. Duke University’s hometown of Durham finished with a 22% increase in traffic congestion during the period in question.
Still, none of those could hold a candle to Winston-Salem, which takes home the top spot when it comes to gridlock in the state during the data from the 2023 Global Traffic Scorecard that INRIX put together.
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USA Today Network photo by Lannis Waters
Author
Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetCarolina.com specializing in covering state issues. He has covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
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