A report released by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) in the US has revealed that nine out of 20 Milwaukee’s freeway segments remain heavily congested, subsequently increasing travel times and costs for drivers.

During rush hours, drivers take over twice, or even thrice their travel times to complete journey through these regions.

WisDOT’s Travel Time Reliability and Delay 2015 Report records travel time and delay data of rural and urban roads throughout the state.

"WisDOT has suggested that road improvement projects could reduce traffic congestion on two of the most congested segments in the Milwaukee region."

The report makes use of traffic data to calculate the additional time motorists would require to complete their journey on these highly congested road segments.

Drivers need almost 17min to reach the Zoo Interchange from the Hale Interchange through Interstate-894 (I-894) during the morning peak hours, which otherwise is a five-minute journey without congestion.

On the other hand, the afternoon traffic compels motorists to cover the 10min journey on the southbound US 45 from the Waukesha County line to the Zoo Interchange in 34min.

The increased travel times and delays also result in a significant rise in travel cost.

Motorists in Wisconsin experienced a total of 12.4 million hours of delay, resulting to a corresponding cost of $387m a year.

Delay times rose by 2.8 million hours during Q3 last year compared with Q3 2014.

In its report, WisDOT has suggested that road improvement projects could reduce traffic congestion on two of the most congested segments in the Milwaukee region.

These two segments are the I-94 running between the Marquette Interchange and the Zoo Interchange, and the I-43 that links Glendale with Grafton.