The WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) will work with the Royal Automobile Club of WA (RAC) on an investigation of the true cost of traffic congestion in Perth.

Data will come from members of both organisations, by way of qualitative surveys for their experiences.

RAC CEO Terry Agnew says congestion in and around Perth takes a heavy toll on businesses across the state.

“Perth is on its way to become the most congested capital in the country,” Agnew says.

“Infrastructure Australia has predicted that in a mere 15 years’ time, seven of the 10 most congested roads in the country will be in Perth.”

CCI CEO Diedre Willmott says the average Perth commuter spends 73 hours a year stuck in traffic. But freight operators area face even greater impacts, leading to higher prices for goods across WA.

“Congestion adds a very real cost to businesses through lost productivity and the CCI-RAC survey aims to find where the problems are so we can fix them,” Willmott says.

A similar survey conducted in 2013 found that congestion negatively impacted the businesses of 83 per cent of respondents.

This year’s survey results should be available to the public later this year.