The problem is/was due to something

Question

Do normal native English speakers say The problem is/was due to the increased amount of traffic.?

In general, I would like to know if is/was due to is a common expression or there's a more natural one?

Answer 1

I am not a native English speaker. To me, the phrase "is/was due/owing to increased amount of traffic", though grammatically correct, is not easy on the ear in spoken English. Instead, I'll say "because of a lot of/heavy/huge traffic".