London Traffic Takes the ‘Rush’ Out of Rush Hour

LONDON — Auto traffic now moves through central London at the not-so-breakneck speed of 11.5 m.p.h. in the morning rush hour, the Department of Transport said. And that’s the good news.

The bad news is that evening rush-hour traffic is even slower, averaging 11 m.p.h., the department said this week.

Both figures are 1 m.p.h. slower than two years ago and 2 m.p.h. slower than a decade ago.

And the department’s report held out little hope for improvement.

“The low average traffic speed and its uniformity between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. is evidence that central area roads may be used to capacity for most of the working day,” it said.