Why Baghdad may have the worst traffic in the Middle East

Bombs, terrorism and civil war used to keep Iraqis indoors. Now it is the gridlocked traffic. Commuters waste hours a day stuck in exhaust fumes. Meetings are delayed for hours. In a data-poor region, few statistics are available. But some travellers reckon Baghdad is now the most congested city in the Middle East, a region where the streets of many a capital are routinely clogged. “Let’s meet on Zoom,” suggests one businesswoman, wearily.

Iraq once sported the region’s most advanced transport system. In the 1950s it was the first in the Middle East to roll out double-decker buses. It took mere minutes to travel from the suburb of Mansour on the west side of the Tigris to Karrada on the east aboard the No 77. Express trains ran from Basra on the Gulf coast all the way to Istanbul. But despite current annual oil revenues of over $100bn, Baghdad’s road network is all but unchanged since the 1980s. Wars, economic sanctions, corruption and neglect have gutted the transport system.