Arlington, Virginia – The American Transportation Research Institute today released its annual list highlighting the most congested bottlenecks for trucks in America.

“While everyone else sheltered in place in 2020, trucks kept rolling, delivering essential goods to communities large and small,” said CRST International President and CEO Hugh Ekberg. “Unfortunately, congestion continues to impact our operations and affect our drivers’ ability to deliver for America.”   

The 2021 Top Truck Bottleneck List measures the level of truck-involved congestion at over 300 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from over 1 million freight trucks uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. ATRI’s truck GPS data is also used to support the U.S. DOT’s Freight Mobility Initiative. The bottleneck locations detailed in this latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, although ATRI continuously monitors more than 300 freight-critical locations.

For the third year in a row, the intersection of I-95 and SR 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey is once again the Number One freight bottleneck in the country. The rest of the Top 10 includes:

‌

2.    Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75

3.    Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North)

4.    Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West)

5.    Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59

6.    Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94

7.    Chattanooga, Tennessee: I-75 at I-24

8.    St. Louis: I-64/I-55 at I-44

9.    Rye, New York: I-95 at I-287

10. San Bernardino, California: I-10 at I-15

ATRI’s analysis, which utilized data from 2020, found that while there were COVID-related impacts on traffic across the country as car drivers stayed at home, the year was not without severe congestion. Average truck speeds at a fourth of the bottlenecks on ATRI’s list were 45 MPH or less, reflecting both a return to pre-pandemic freight demand throughout the year and the impact of numerous roadway construction projects in 2020.

“For decades, ATA has been sounding the alarm about how the condition of our highways is contributing to congestion – which slows down commerce, contributes to pollution and reduces safety. ATRI’s bottleneck report highlights where our most critical issues are and should be a guide for policymakers at the state and federal level,” said American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear. “The cost of doing nothing is always higher than the cost of fixing these problems and we cannot wait any longer to address this mounting crisis.”

There are seven Pennsylvania locations on the list up from six in 2020. There were five in 2019 and just two in 2018. You can view the seven PA locations here.

For access to the full report, including detailed information on each of the 100 top congested locations, please visit ATRI’s website at TruckingResearch.org.