Traffic, Not Basketball, Most Likely To Drive Fans Mad This March

Data from GPS users show that of all host cities in this year’s basketball tournament, Houston tops the field with the longest persistent traffic jam, averaging 8.5 miles every day on Texas 6

Concord, MA - Sports fans associate March with college basketball, but this year a new kind of madness may emerge. TomTom, the world’s leading provider of location and navigation solutions, has revealed which of the college basketball tournament’s host cities has the longest persistent traffic jam. At the center of the bracket? It’s not Indianapolis, host city of the final games in the competition, but Houston, with a daily average 8.5 mile long backup on Texas 6. Texas 6 connects Houston and Waco. The most congested area of the road is between Northwest Freeway and Westpark Tollway.

The results were calculated using data from Speed Profiles™, the historical speed database from TomTom’s licensing business unit Tele Atlas that helps personal and professional fleet drivers find the best routes. Speed Profiles aggregates, anonymously, the actual speeds that millions of GPS-enabled drivers have traveled over the last two years to provide the most accurate view of average speeds on both primary and secondary roads. It is incorporated on TomTom GPS devices as IQ Routes™ to guide drivers away from congestion, not only on major highways but on all routes in the road network.

A backup was considered a traffic jam if drivers could travel at only 70% or less of the posted speed limit, meaning on average an hour long trip included 20 minutes or more of significant delays. Data in the study were organized to show congestion seven days a week on non-highway roads to provide a truer, more detailed picture of the overall traffic situation in the host cities. The study found that:

• Houston’s traffic congestion is particularly bad. Beyond Texas 6, Westeimer Road, the West Loop, the Northwest Freeway, the Southwest Freeway and San Felipe Street all have long daily average backups that extend between 3.1 miles and 7.3 miles in length.

• The top host cities after Houston with the longest traffic jams are: Salt Lake City (6.9 miles average daily backup on UT 154, especially between UT 201 and W 7800 S); Jacksonville (4.5 miles average daily backup on Atlantic Boulevard between Southside Boulevard and the Atlantic Ocean); San Jose (4.1 miles average daily backup on North 1st Street between CA 237 and Interstate 280); and Spokane (3.2 miles average daily backup on North Division Street between N Newport Highway and the split at N Ruby Street).

• Indianapolis ranked nearly last with just 1.6 miles of average daily backup on North Meridian Street.

To see a new kind of championship bracket showing the host cities’ positions based on longest traffic jams, or for more information, go to www.teleatlaspresskit.com.

Fans attending the tournament can steer clear of these traffic jams with TomTom, the premier car navigation solution that also features the latest, most up to date map, so users can go confidently with the knowledge that the directions they receive are both accurate and efficient.

About TomTom N.V.
TomTom N.V. (AEX: TOM2) is the world’s leading provider of location and navigation solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands it has over 3,000 employees worldwide. More than 40 million people use its solutions every day, in the form of dedicated portable navigation devices (PNDs), in-dash car systems or tracking and tracing solutions for fleet management. In addition, hundreds of millions of people use TomTom’s digital maps on the internet or mobile phones.

In 2009, TomTom reported €1.5 billion in revenues and a €340 million net cash flow from operating activities. More information about TomTom can be found at www.TomTom.com.