Bucharest, Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca and Iași are the cities with the most congested traffic in Romania at present, while at the opposite pole are Reșița, Giurgiu and Călărași, it appears from the data included in the “traffic index 2025”, published on Tuesday, September 16th.
Cars in traffic, in Bucharest Photo: Shuterstock
The traffic index 2025, analysis made by the Institute for Viewing Cities, presents an x -ray of traffic from the county residence municipalities and identifies the urban mobility patterns. The index compares how much the traffic slows on the working days compared to a free regime, for the 41 residence and Bucharest municipalities.
According to analysis, small cities, such as Reșița, Giurgiu and Cărărași have the most fluent traffic.
At the opposite end, Bucharest is maintained a special case, with losses due to the agglomeration, equivalent of over 12 days of annual working for an ordinary driver – that is, more than half of the legal rest leave.
The data were collected during March -June 2025, from Monday to Friday, between 07:00 and 20:00 – when people move the most through the city.
In order to have a “free” reference point, the traffic speeds recorded on Sunday morning, between 07:00 and 08:00 were used. This is the interval with the lowest traffic at national level, which offers a comparable and repeated standard for all cities.
Traffic is one of the 51 indicators analyzed by the urban performance barometer City Index, which will be launched in the end of October 2025.
The classic pattern of the “peak hours” has changed
According to the analysis, the capital of Romania remains a special case, with losses caused by the equivalent agglomeration of over 12 working days, annually, for an ordinary driver, ie more than half of the legal rest leave.
The report also shows that the classic pattern of the “peak hours” has changed. Thus, cities are no longer blocked only when people enter and leave work, but also in the middle of the day, when daily fragmented activities produce prolonged congestion.
“Unsurprisingly, the small cities lead the ranking of fluent mobility. Resita, Giurgiu and Călăraşi are the first three cities in the index ranking: a inhabitant loses here due to the congestion of traffic, only 3 – 3.5 days of work per year, which confirms that the small size of the city offers the inhabitants a constant mobility and a few extensions. From last year. it is mentioned in the document.
The cities entering the “green area”
In contrast, large cities remain under constant pressure, and Bucharest is still the major exception of the Romanian urban network, with an ETTR (excess travel time) of about 45%. At the same time, Timişoara and Iasi pass the threshold of nine days lost a year, which indicates the need for structural measures.
However, there are also positive exceptions on a large scale, such as Braila and Galați, with populations that exceed 150,000 inhabitants, but who manage to enter the “green” area of the standings, with only 3.6 – 4.3 days lost a year, due to traffic agglomeration.
“Their results show that a good average mobility rhythm, combined with a moderate speed difference between the weekend and working days, can compensate for population size.”notes the quoted source.
At the opposite pole of the dynamics, some cities, some of them small, mark steep falls compared to 2024. In this sense, Alexandria and Cluj-Napoca have relegated seven positions, while Brasov, Tulcea lost five places, and the explanations are related to new pressures on the road networks, or a lesser traffic.
“The data analyzed by us show that lunch time is the new peak of traffic. In many cities, the minimum speeds are no longer recorded at 8:00 or 17:00, but between 11:00 and 14:00. The explanation comes from flexible work, offered programs and a greater dispersion of travel flows during the day. Courier and food deliveries, as well as alternative Uber/Bolt transport, are the ones that generate slowing down, then mobility measures (public transport, windows, parking management, adaptive traffic lights) must be calibrated for 11:00 – 14:00, not only for traditional hours of Rush Hour, not only for daily mobility, not only for daily mobility, Entry of the city ”said Florian Filat, executive director of the Institute for Views and Project Manager City Index.
