The most congested national park in America is …

… Yosemite National Park in California. That’s according to a new survey by TomTom, which aggregated the average speeds of vehicles traveling through the parks, based on anonymous user-shared data using its navigation devices.

Of the top 10 most visited National Parks, Yosemite and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho have the longest individual traffic jams, with 3.5 and 2.8 miles respectively, it found.

But it’s not all bad news for park visitors this summer. The findings suggest the parks are not as congested as they are often depicted.

Of the nearly 8,200 total miles of navigable roads within the National Parks, only about 0.1% of all roadways experienced any regularly occurring traffic within the park. This is further evidenced by the total average driving speed within all the parks generally differed by no more than 10 miles per hour.

Traffic jams were defined as situations in which drivers could travel at only 70 percent or less of the posted speed limit, meaning on average an hour long trip included 20 minutes or more of significant delays.

Among the other finding:

Slowest is also fastest. Yellowstone also ranks second in terms of overall roadway speed with an average of 33.3 mph, behind only Washington Headquarters Park (39.3 mph).

Grand delays. Of the most visited parks, only Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona is among the ten National Parks with the slowest average driving speeds, with an average speed of 23 mph. Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado (18.2 mph) and Assateague Island National Park in Maryland and Virginia (19.8 mph) have the slowest average speeds.

Look for these chokepoints. Regularly occurring traffic within the parks often coincided with park entrances and centers, majestic vistas and scenic areas where visitors slow to enjoy their surroundings. The data does not include information on incidental traffic in the parks, which may occur due to adverse weather conditions, exciting wild animal sightings or other unpredictable events.

The top five parks that offer the highest average speeds include:

1. Washington Headquarters National Park, PA – average of 39.9 mph
2. Yellowstone National Park, WY, MT and ID – 33.3 mph
3. Cuyahoga Valley National Park, OH – 32.6 mph
4. Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit, ND – 29.8 mph
5. Congaree National Park, SC – 29.4 mph

Not exactly the Autobahn, but when you’re on vacation, you don’t want to be sitting in a parking lot, either.

Have a great Memorial Day holiday.

(Photo: Wolfgang Staudt/Flickr Creative Commons)

  • http://www.live-adventurously.com Ridlon Kiphart

    Hey Elliott, after having been a guide in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Bryce and/or Zion Ntl Parks for 10 seasons, I thought I might offer some insight and ideas. Yes, traffic is a problem in our Ntl Parks but there’s more than the above article reveals. First, slow speeds are often a choice – especially in Yellowstone – where people stop or drive slowly at “bear jams” and other wildlife sightings. That would account for Yellowstone having both fast and slow speeds. People zip between wildlife sightings but take their time when they see bison, elk or bear. Perhaps more important is that all these parks still offer a wild or near wild experience if you’ll only walk a few hundred yards off the pavement. Less than 2% of Yellowstone’s 2+ million visitors a year do this. The average stay at the Grand Canyon is less than 4 hours. Its like Chevy Chase in the movie Vacation. There is a geothermal area in the woods near crowded Old Faithful that has no decks, walkways, handrails or people if you go and find it. So if you are willing to get out of your car, you can still have the experience in our National Parks that would make Edward Abbey proud. Zion has a role model system of shuttle buses that run at convenient intervals, stop regularly and run on natural gas. It would be very beneficial to see this instituted in other parks. Hope that helps.

  • Matt

    Yosemite is amazing and should be visited at least once. If you’ve seen that and enjoy it then also visit the smaller sandstone version at Zions Park in Utah. And while you’re here in Utah visit the other spectacular NPs: Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef. Not to mention numerous other National Monuments. There’s a lot to explore in Utah that is easily accessible yet off the beaten path.

  • http://rjtalestold.blogspot.com/ Dick Jordan

    I’ve been to Yosemite many times and despite its popularity as a tourist destination I’ve always found a way to tour the valley floor on foot and avoid nearly every other park visitor except my wife. My experience has been the same at the other national parks in the Western U.S. even during the high season. Follow Ridlon’s advice: Park your car and just walk. You don’t need to be a backpacker or even a day-hiker to increase your enjoyment of these natural places ten-fold.

  • Liz

    Assateague has 1 10 mile, 2 lane road and the speed limit is 15 mph, which is strictly enforced. You wouldn’t want to hit a pony.

  • MeanMeosh

    If you’re going to Yosemite, and are staying at one of the hotels or campgrounds outside the park, leave the car behind and ride the YARTS mass transit. Just ride to Yosemite Village, then either explore on foot or use the shuttle buses to get around the valley. You’ll be glad you did. I went to Yosemite on Memorial Day weekend one year. It took nearly 3 hours to get out of the park on Sunday, but I got to relax and have a nice conversation with the bus driver and a couple of other folks going back to their hotels. Even on a day without traffic, you’ll be amazed at how much more freedom you have in a national park when you explore by walking and don’t have to worry about the car.

    And besides – the last thing you want to do in a national park is hurry. I’ll admit to getting annoyed when stuck behind extra slow moving traffic, but I usually use that as an excuse to pull over at an overlook or hiking trail and walk around a bit.

  • http://www.woodruffinns.com virginia bed and breakfast

    The Yosemite national park is a densely forested area with an abundance of lush green and serene beauty and historical attractions, lakes and mountains. It is famous for hiking, camping and so many adventurous and thrilling activities.

    The wildlife is the essential area of the park which provides great wildlife view and attraction. In vacation season traffic gets jammed due to a huge rush of vehicles on the road and slow speed of driving. It gets so much congested to move forward.

  • Natalie

    Wait, can you elaborate on how they got this data? Did users affirmatively have to grant them access? Or does TomTom skim regularly for data from its devices? If so, that’s rather alarming.

  • http://bikehike.com Anny at BikeHike Adventures

    I was going to post the same comment as Ridlon. When I was on a US road trip last Fall, we drove slower through the nicer parts of National Parks by choice to enjoy the views.

  • y_p_w

    Zion NP used to have some serious traffic problems with only one lane in each direction down Zion Canyon. A few years ago they instituted a mandatory shuttle system during the peak months (about late April to early October), with the only exception for those staying at Zion Lodge or those who needed their own vehicles to carry certain types of medical equipment. A guest at Zion Lodge would only be able to park at Zion Lodge (they’d issue a ticket for parking anywhere else) and even those with disabled plates/placards can’t use private vehicles unless they have a specific need for medical equipment. Their shuttle buses are fully wheelchair capable, although they’re not air conditioned; anyone who’s been there in the summer months knows how hot it gets. It used to be absolute gridlock there – even worse than Yosemite Valley. When I visited a few years ago, it was really nice taking the shuttle from point to point.

    Yosemite’s shuttle system works quite well. I remember going on a backpacking trip and seeing if I could navigate through a shuttle bus (they’ve got really nice diesel/electric hybrids) with a full pack complete with externally secured foam sleeping pad (folded like an accordion), hiking poles, and an enameled steel camp cup. Most fellow passengers were smiling at me as I carefully turned around trying to avoid whipping the cup into someone’s face.

    I’d note that Grand Canyon NP has several shuttle lines too, including some routes where the shuttle is mandatory.

    As for wildlife sightings, in Yellowstone they call those incidents “bear jams”. I remember a law enforcement ranger yelling and screaming that anyone parked on the road had to have all four tires off the pavement or the vehicle moved to the parking lot, or he was going to start issuing parking tickets. We drove 200 feet to the nearest parking lot and walked back to check out the bear. Others didn’t care and probably got a nice little $50 national park souvenir from the ranger.

    As for Tom Tom, they skim the data from some devices, but claim they ask users to opt in. I don’t think they include personally identifiable information in their data collection; the source is made random to the collector. By the same token, lots traffic speed information is collected via toll transponders like FasTrak in California or SunPass in Florida, with assorted checkpoints to record what time a transponder has passed by. They can use this to determine an average time to get from (let’s say) Berkeley to San Francisco as posted on electronic freeway signs, or average speeds on the 511.org website. I know for FasTrak, they claim that they don’t save the transponder number after the few hours needed to determine travel times, but that they keep the data without any personally identifiable information after that period. Anyone who wants to opt out can store the transponder in an RF shielded bag.

    http://www.itworld.com/personal-tech/69667/tele-atlas-uses-data-drivers-map-faster