“Trafficked road” - for native English speakers.
In Danish it’s common to talk about a road, street or area as being “trafficked”. It means that there is a lot of traffic there. An example could be, “This is a highly trafficked street”.
“Trafficked” can be found used in English in published books, but I have the feeling it’s not a very common thing to say. Am I right about that?
What would you normally say when you want to say that there is a lot of traffic on a road/street or in an area?

Thanks for your help.

Question

“Trafficked road” - for native English speakers.
In Danish it’s common to talk about a road, street or area as being “trafficked”. It means that there is a lot of traffic there. An example could be, “This is a highly trafficked street”.
“Trafficked” can be found used in English in published books, but I have the feeling it’s not a very common thing to say. Am I right about that?
What would you normally say when you want to say that there is a lot of traffic on a road/street or in an area?

Thanks for your help.

Answer

Yes, in the United States we say this is a "heavily trafficked road." It is more usual to say it is "busy" or "congested."

And, oddly enough the phrases "heavily trafficked" and "highly trafficked" are used more often to refer to the routes people take walking through a building. For example, "be sure to use industrial carpeting in heavily-trafficked areas like the front lobby."

Answer

I've never come across the phrase 'heavily trafficked roads' before, and I had only heard the word 'trafficked' in the context of people-smuggling.  Having done a few searches, I think that it seems to be a technical term used in engineering, town planning and so on.  It's certainly not something that most people would say in everyday conversation.

Could be one to avoid if you want top marks at spy school ;)

Answer

I would be more likely to say "busy street" or "high traffic street."  (Or a "high traffic area.")
It looks like there are more google hits for "high traffic" than "high trafficked."

Answer

That's interesting, I hadn't realized that the dictionary gives that definition of the verb. I don't remember ever reading or hearing it being used in that context. However, as you know, it is commonly used in the sense of "drug trafficking". :)

People refer to "a busy road" to mean that there's a lot of traffic on that road. If you say "a busy street" then it becomes unclear whether the busy-ness is due to road traffic or pedestrian traffic.

Answer

I'd e more likely to say "busy"
We'd be more likely to say "well-trafficked" than "highly trafficked".