Hamburg Remains Northern Germany’s Traffic Hotspot
Hamburg, January 21 – A new study, the ‘TomTom Traffic Index’ for 2025, has revealed that Hamburg continues to experience the slowest car traffic in Northern Germany, with a significant risk of congestion, particularly during rush hour. The report, published on Wednesday, indicates that drivers in Hamburg’s city center require an average of more than 26 minutes to cover a ten-kilometer distance, an increase of approximately 40 seconds compared to the previous year. This places Hamburg fourth nationwide in terms of traffic delays.
Hamburg Outpaces Other Northern German Cities in Congestion
Among the 29 German cities examined by the navigation device manufacturer TomTom, only Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, and Leipzig recorded longer travel times than Hamburg (26.2 minutes). Hannover ranks seventh with an average travel time of 24.7 minutes, followed by Bremen in sixteenth place (21.8 minutes). Kiel, at 16.5 minutes, offers significantly faster transit, nearly ten minutes quicker than Hamburg. Bochum, Duisburg, and Wuppertal reported the lowest average travel times.
The ‘TomTom Traffic Index’ also analyzed metropolitan regions. In the Hamburg metropolitan area, the travel time for a ten-kilometer journey increased by 32 seconds, reaching an average of 16.5 minutes.
Methodology and Data Sources
The ‘TomTom Traffic Index’ is based on anonymized traffic data collected from over 600 million vehicles and mobile devices. The 2025 ranking includes 492 cities across 63 countries. It is important to note that the study’s methodology was updated compared to the previous year, resulting in recalculated comparative values for 2024, which differ from previously published figures.
Significant Delays During Rush Hour
The new ‘TomTom Traffic Index’ highlights clear differences in car traffic between weekdays and weekends. On weekdays, a ten-kilometer journey in Hamburg’s city center at 8:00 AM takes an average of 29.3 minutes. At the same time on weekends, it only takes 20.2 minutes. The slowest traffic on weekdays occurs at 4:00 PM, with an average travel time of 30.7 minutes for ten kilometers.
On weekends, traffic is heaviest around 2:00 PM, with an average of 27.9 minutes for ten kilometers. Interestingly, drivers in Hamburg experience slightly slower traffic at night on weekends compared to weekday nights.
Varying Afternoon Congestion Levels
A comparison of weekdays reveals that afternoon rush hour in Hamburg is not consistently severe. For instance, at 4:00 PM, traffic is particularly dense on Thursdays, requiring almost 33 minutes to cover ten kilometers. Wednesdays and Tuesdays follow closely. Fridays and Mondays offer slightly faster travel times at 4:00 PM, while Sundays are the quickest for drivers.
Factors Contributing to Traffic Flow
According to TomTom, numerous factors influence traffic flow, including infrastructure and its condition, traffic density, weather conditions, construction sites, and roadworks. Driver behavior and speed limits also play a role, as do unforeseen events such as accidents and special events.
The Hamburg Department of Transport responded cautiously to the ‘TomTom Traffic Index’ findings. Spokesperson Henrik Horndahl stated in an NDR inquiry that the data could only be compared over longer periods to a limited extent. Horndahl noted that car traffic on Hamburg’s city streets has decreased by approximately eleven percent since 2019. To improve the city’s traffic situation, Hamburg is implementing digital solutions for traffic light control and better coordination of construction sites. Additionally, the expansion of public transport aims to alleviate road traffic.
46 Hours in Traffic Jams Annually
In December, the American traffic data analyst INRIX released its own traffic study, the ‘Global Traffic Scorecard 2025.’ This report examined congestion times in 73 German cities, utilizing anonymized location data from in-vehicle navigation systems and data from cities and municipalities. According to INRIX, drivers in Hamburg spent an average of 46 hours in traffic jams in 2025, placing the city eighth in Germany for congestion.
