A national group says Minneapolis is the 10th most congested city in the country. And they're not talking about nasal congestion.

And the worst time for our roads? Between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursdays. (Everyone rushing home to watch "30 Rock"?)

The worst bottleneck, they say: U.S. Hwy. 169 at I-494 and the interchange with Highway 5. (Much of this data came when the I-35W bridge in downtown Minneapolis was still under construction.) Three St. Paul spots are included in their worst area bottlenecks: I-35 E at I-94; I-94 at Marion St.; and Hwy. 52 on the Lafayette Bridge.

The scorecard was prepared by INRIX, which provides  real-time traffic information for many GPS devices and mobile phones. The report is based on data gathered in 2008. Minneapolis congestion did decrease by 20.5 percent from 2007, improving our rank by three spots.

Their top 10 for bumper-to-bumper traffic:
 
   1. Los Angeles
   2. New York
   3. Chicago
   4. Dallas
   5. Washington, D.C.
   6. Houston
   7. San Francisco
   8. Boston
   9. Seattle
  10. Minneapolis