In the late hours of Tuesday, December 27, Moscow’s traffic picture showed notable congestion, reaching what local observers describe as ten points on the traffic scale. This assessment comes from the Yandex.Traffic service, which monitors roadway conditions across the city. Across several major corridors, investigators observed slowdowns that affected the Third Transport Ring as well as the Garden Ring. Specific choke points included Tverskaya Street, Mokhovaya Street, and Novy Arbat, together with the Moskvoretskaya, Bernikovskaya, and Kedrashevskaya embankments where vehicles faced delays and slower movement. The pattern mirrored a week earlier, on December 20, when a similar surge in congestion was recorded, again reaching the same level of severity. Such fluctuations highlight how the holiday period puts extra pressure on urban transportation networks, extending beyond a single artery to create a wider state of gridlock during the evening drive. External observers note the recurring nature of this heavy traffic as the city transitions into the New Year season, when business activity, travel plans, and festive shopping converge, triggering longer trips and higher car usage on familiar routes.
Beyond the city’s roads, the broader mood around the holidays often includes elevated stress for residents and visitors alike. A recent online health management survey conducted by Budu and the express delivery operator SDEK shines a light on common pressures during the lead‑up to the New Year. The survey found that the largest share of respondents cited a heavy workload at work as a primary stressor, with around a quarter of participants reporting this factor. Lines at stores and rising prices for holiday goods were also highlighted as significant concerns. In contrast, only a minority expressed frustration with traffic jams themselves, while a similar share indicated worry over winter weather conditions such as snow and mud, and a portion of respondents noted displeasure with darkness after sunset. The results show how comfort and planning for the holidays depend on a mix of workplace pace, consumer costs, and travel conditions, and they underscore the way everyday transportation challenges can blend with seasonal anxieties during this time of year [Budu, SDEK survey data].
For readers in North America, the pattern observed in Moscow offers a useful reminder. Holiday periods across major cities often bring higher inbound and outbound traffic, longer queues at essential services, and more crowded roads in the evenings. Travelers and commuters can counterbalance some of this pressure with proactive planning: checking live traffic feeds, arranging flexible work hours when possible, and mapping routes that avoid known junctions during peak times. Local driving behavior illustrates a universal theme of the season: when everyone moves at once, congestion tends to spread beyond the immediate bottlenecks and ripple through the wider network. This is not merely a Moscow phenomenon; it mirrors the experience many North American cities see during the week between Christmas and New Year’s when the combination of shopping runs, service closures, and festive events creates a dense, citywide travel pattern that demands patience and preparation [Budu, SDEK survey data].