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Dubai motorists lose nearly 4 days to traffic in 2025 as congestion rises
As the emirate's population increased, crossing four million for the first time in 2025, the number of vehicles on the roads has also gone up
- PUBLISHED: Sun 25 Jan 2026, 3:40 PM
Motorists in Dubai spent more hours on the roads in 2025, as the average travel time for a 10-kilometre drive increased to 19.1 minutes, up from 13.7 minutes in 2024. The increase was driven by a growing population, which resulted in more vehicles on the road, according to a new traffic report.
The TomTom Traffic Index revealed that the average distance driven in 15 minutes was 7.8 kilometres last year, 0.2km less than the previous year. Similarly, amid growing traffic in the city, the average speed during rush hour was 26.3 kilometres per hour in 2025, 1km slower than in 2024.
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The highways also saw increased traffic last year at an average speed of 70.5km per hour, 2.1km per hour slower than in 2024. As the emirate’s population has increased, crossing four million for the first time in 2025, the number of vehicles on the roads has also increased.
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In addition to Dubai-registered vehicles, the emirate sees a large number of motorists driving from other emirates to Dubai every day, especially Sharjah, Ajman and Abu Dhabi.
At the end of the third quarter of 2025, there were 4.65 million registered active vehicles by Dubai’s toll gate operator Salik, up from 4.56 million at the end of the second quarter, reflecting the growing number of vehicles in the UAE.
Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has been investing billions of dirhams in upgrading infrastructure to cope with Dubai's growing traffic. Among the latest road enhancement projects, two bridges at the World Trade Centre Roundabout were opened, more lanes were added to Al Hessa Street, an expanded bridge leading to Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 1 was opened, a new bridge to Mall of the Emirates was opened, and a major section of Emirates Road was completed last year, among many other projects.
Busiest day and time
According to the TomTom Traffic Index, the motorists in Dubai lost 72 hours in traffic jams in 2025, equivalent to 3 days and 50 minutes. The means motorists 6.23 hours more than the previous year.
This is more than the time reported earlier this month by the Inrix Global Traffic Scorecard, which said that Dubai motorists lost around 45 hours in traffic jams in 2025, compared to 35 hours in 2024.
The busiest day motorists witnessed last year, according to TomTom, was November 11, when the average congestion level was 73 per cent throughout the day and 168 per cent at 5pm. It took Dubai motorists an average of 15 minutes to travel 4 kilometres on November 11.
Interestingly, it took Dubai motorists more time to travel the same distance in the evening than in the morning.
Data showed that it took motorists, on average, 18.4 minutes to travel 10km in the morning, as opposed to 26.3 minutes for the same distance in the evening. As a result, the average speed decreases from 32.1km/h in the morning to 22.6km/h during the evening rush hour.
