Dive Brief:
- Interstate 95 and State Route 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, was named the nation’s worst trucking bottleneck for the fifth consecutive year, receiving the dubious honor from the American Transportation Research Institute. Peak average traffic speeds there worsened by 9.9% last year.
- U.S. traffic bottlenecks slowed truck traffic by 6.6% YoY to an average peak speed of 36.3 mph, according to ATRI, the research arm of the American Trucking Associations.
- Thirty of the 50 states had at least one of the nation’s top 100 bottlenecks. California, Georgia and Illinois each had more than one in the top 10, with traffic most concentrated in the Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago areas, respectively.
Mapping the country's top 10 truck bottlenecks
The top 10 biggest truck bottlenecks
| Highway interchange | City and state |
|---|---|
| 1. I-95 and SR 4 | Fort Lee, New Jersey |
| 2. I-294 at I-290/I-88 | Chicago, Illinois |
| 3. I-45 at I-69/US 59 | Houston, Texas |
| 4. I-285 at I-85 (North) | Atlanta, Georgia |
| 5. I-20 at I-285 (West) | Atlanta, Georgia |
| 6. I-290 at I-90/I-94 | Chicago, Illinois |
| 7. SR 60 at SR 57 | Los Angeles, California |
| 8. I-710 at I-105 | Los Angeles, California |
| 9. I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East) | Nashville, Tennessee |
| 10. I-10 at I-15 | San Bernardino, California |
Source: ATRI
Dive Insight:
In its annual roundup of where truck drivers spend the most time waiting in traffic in the U.S., ATRI noted that nearly half of the top 100 truck bottlenecks reduced traffic speeds to less than 45 mph.
Among the top 10 areas, speeds dropped to below 30 mph.
ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a statement that recent years shined a spotlight on supply chains and the consequences of congestion for the nation’s economy and consumers.
“ATRI’s bottleneck report highlights the areas of our transportation network in need of investment so we can get goods and people moving,” Spear said. “The cost of doing nothing is felt in needless delays, wasted fuel and time.”
Federal funding available from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law could help address some of the most traffic-heavy areas. The ATRI report highlights problem areas requiring attention, and its reports in previous years have been referenced by elected officials in Texas and Illinois amid efforts to address bottlenecks.
Development would limit any highway expansions or other improvements to the bottleneck in Fort Lee, New Jersey. But ATRI has proposed an operational fix in the past: allowing one level of the George Washington Bridge leading into Manhattan to accommodate trucks, and reserving the other for passenger vehicles.
