Honolulu had the worst traffic congestion among American cities in 2011, with drivers wasting an average of 58 hours stuck in gridlock, according to a study released Tuesday.

Changes in the methodology by INRIX Inc.’s fifth annual National Traffic Scorecard moved Hono­lulu from 37th place in 2010 to No. 1 last year above even Los Angeles. But frustrated drivers such as Allison Higa­shi, 28, of Pearl City believe Hono­lulu earned its new ranking as the most congested city in America for traffic.

"It sure feels that way," said Higa­shi, who spends nearly two hours every day driving her 2011 Hyun­dai Accent to her job at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and then to M.B.A. classes at Cha­mi­nade University. "I’m in rush hour all the way to town."

Drivers in the 10 worst U.S. cities for traffic averaged 44 hours stuck in congestion in 2011, according to the INRIX study.

But Honolulu’s average of 58 hours was worst of all, beating Los Angeles (56 hours) and San Francisco (48 hours) while providing political fuel for the arguments over Hono­lulu’s $5.27 billion rail proj­ect.

"Traffic is getting worse and everybody knows that," said Daniel Grabauskas, executive director and chief executive officer of the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.

"There’s a lot of times you want to be No. 1, like in football. Where you don’t want to be No. 1 is in gas prices, and you don’t want to be No. 1 in congestion, you know, wasted time in traffic. We’ve got that double whammy here in Hono­lulu."

Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a statement, "The bad news is the scorecard analyzed the 100 largest metropolitan areas in our country and the worst traffic city in the nation is Hono­lulu, even worse than Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. The good news is that right now we are building the solution. The Hono­lulu rail proj­ect is under construction. On April 23rd construction began on columns and foundations. Sen. Ino­uye has confirmed that the only thing that will keep the proj­ect from receiving $1.55 billion in federal funding is World War III."

Rail critic Panos Pre­ve­dou­ros, a University of Hawaii civil and environmental engineering professor, said in response that rail supporters "tried so hard … to use Hono­lulu’s INRIX No. 1 ranking in traffic congestion as a reason that Hono­lulu needs rail to solve its traffic problem. But most cities on the list of worst cities for traffic congestion have rail! What did rail do for their congestion? It squandered billions, which could have been used for real traffic relief."

The INRIX study ranked Hono­lulu worst in the country after looking at two congested corridors: a 3.9-mile stretch of the eastbound H-1 freeway to Vineyard Boulevard/Ward Avenue, and a 7.3-mile section of the westbound H-1 freeway to the Waimalu exit.

And the worst time for Hono­lulu traffic congestion, according to the study, occurs every Tuesday from 5:15 to 5:30 p.m.

Prevedouros criticized the INRIX study for ranking Hono­lulu worst in the nation after studying only two busy corridors.

"I do not give heavy credibility to the study," he said. "You cannot assess an entire island based on one of the worst bottlenecks in the nation around the Middle Street merge. It is overblowing the situation."

Bartender and caterer Adam Hamill, 34, of Palolo also did not believe Hono­lulu earned its ignoble ranking.

"I’ve been stuck in worst traffic before in Chicago, L.A. and New York," Hamill said. "I think we’re pretty bad, but mainly because we have just one thoroughfare, the H-1, that everybody has to take. We have more people on the same road than anybody else."

Honolulu seemed to buck the national trends found by Washington-based INRIX.

Out of America’s 100 most populated cities, 70 had decreased traffic congestion, according to the study.

"These results are indicative of a ‘Stop-‘N’-Go Economy’ where lack of employment combined with high fuel prices is keeping Americans off the roads," INRIX said in a statement.

"The declines in traffic congestion across the U.S. and Europe are indicative of stalled economies worldwide," Bryan Mistele, INRIX president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "In America, the economic recovery on Wall Street has not arrived on Main Street. Americans are driving less and spending less fueled by gas prices and a largely jobless recovery."

Caroline Sluyter, spokes­woman for the state Department of Transportation, cited DOT programs and proj­ects designed to ease congestion on state roads in Hono­lulu but said DOT "acknowledges that Hawaii does have heavy traffic congestion at times. Our engineers and planners are continuously looking for ways to improve the movement of people and goods within our state."

Mayoral candidate Kirk Caldwell said the time that Hono­lulu drivers spend in congestion each year means "we sit in traffic for 58 hours a year, wasting time, wasting energy, not being home with family, not being at work being productive. … I think rail is about a solution to our traffic problem. This is only going to grow worse without rail."

None of the political positions staked out by rail proponents and critics on Tuesday did anything to ease the frustrations of drivers in the worst city in America for traffic.

Florence Yogi, 46, of Kailua avoids Hono­lulu’s most congested corridors when she drives her 2002 Toyota Tacoma truck to and from her job as a payroll accountant downtown. But she gets stuck whenever she visits friends in Wahiawa via Hono­lulu’s most congested traffic corridors.

"It can take me over an hour from town," Yogi said. "It’s unbelievable."

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Star-Advertiser reporter Kevin Dayton contributed to this report.