Truck speeds continue to decline at nation’s biggest highway bottlenecks
The research arm of the American Trucking Associations has pinpointed potential areas for highway investment in its annual survey of top freight bottlenecks. The post Truck speeds continue to decline at nation’s biggest highway bottlenecks appeared first on FreightWaves.
WASHINGTON — Average truck speeds below 45 mph are becoming more prevalent at the country’s most notorious freight traffic jams, according to the American Transportation Research Institute.
ATRI, the research of the American Trucking Associations, revealed in its latest annual freight bottleneck survey that 66 of the top 100 bottlenecks in the U.S. had average truck speeds of less than 45 mph.
That compares with 62 of the top 100 bottlenecks in ATRI’s 2024 survey and 49 in its 2023 survey.
“Delays inflicted on truckers by congestion are the equivalent of 436,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year,” said ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster, in a statement Wednesday when the survey was released. “These metrics are getting worse, but the good news is that states do not need to accept the status quo.”
ATRI uses freight truck GPS data, customized software applications and analysis methods, and trucking operations data to produce a “congestion impact” ranking for more than 325 locations on the national highway system.
The intersection of I-95 and state Route 4 near the entrance to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, ranked as the No. 1 freight bottleneck in the country for the seventh year in a row. Atlanta had three locations in the top 10, and Houston had two. After the Fort Lee site, the worst bottlenecks were:
- Chicago: I-294 at I-290/I-88.
- Houston: I-45 at I-69/U.S. 59.
- Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North).
- Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East).
- Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North).
- Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57.
- Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75.
- Houston: I-10 at I-45.
- Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West).
The intersection of I-95 and I-195 in Providence, Rhode Island, which ranked 25 overall, saw the largest deterioration in peak average speed among the top 100 locations, dropping 18% to 27.2 mph.
The intersection of I-285 and state Route 400 in Atlanta, which ranked 29 overall, registered the biggest improvement in peak average speed, increasing 11.9% to 33.7 mph.
The average peak-hour truck speed among all 100 locations in the 2025 survey was 34.2 mph, roughly the same average calculated in the 2024 survey.
ATRI considers its annual bottleneck ranking, as measured by truck speeds, as providing critical insight for lawmakers and the private sector when making infrastructure investment decisions.
To support that case, the research group pointed out that the intersection of I-290 and I-90/I-94 in Chicago, known as the Jane Byrne Interchange, had at one time been the top-ranked truck bottleneck in the country for three straight years.
Sustained federal investment to relieve the bottleneck, however, resulted in the interchange falling to No. 15 in the latest ranking, with rush hour truck speeds improving by nearly 25% after construction was completed.
“ATRI’s annual bottleneck list provides a clear roadmap for reducing supply chain impediments and guiding investment decisions as Congress begins to focus attention on our country’s next transportation investment reauthorization bill,” the group asserts.
Related articles:
- ATRI: Road congestion cost trucking $108.8B in 2022
- Texas again has highest number of traffic bottlenecks for truckers
- ATRI survey: Drivers and carriers see top issues in trucking differently
Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.
The post Truck speeds continue to decline at nation’s biggest highway bottlenecks appeared first on FreightWaves.
