Congestion is a problem for almost every driver. But for professional truckers, knowing how, when, and where to drive in order to avoid traffic can make a huge difference. How big of a difference?
Every year, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) publishes a list of the most congested highways in the country for freight. As the research arm of the American Trucking Association (ATA), the ATRI has a huge set of truck GPS data to draw from.
According to the ATRI, the number one most congested bottleneck in the country is on I-95 in New Jersey. The intersection with Route 4 just before the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan adds an extra 29 minutes of driving each day. The average speed for a truck in that area is 31.7mph. And even during non-peak hours, it only goes up to 35.2mph.
Unsurprisingly, major metropolitan areas pop up again and again in the top 10 and top 100 lists. New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Nashville account for all of the top 10 bottlenecks for freight. For the full list, you can see the ATRI report here.
Congestion cost the trucking industry 1.2 billion hours of lost productivity in 2018. That’s the equivalent of 425,533 truckers getting paid to sit at home and twiddle their thumbs for a full year. So, it’s not surprising that the ATA and large carriers see congestion as a major issue. But given that most company drivers are paid by the mile, a good deal of the $74.5 billion that the ATRI claims congestion costs every year is actually lost by drivers.
Source: ATRI, truckinginfo, overdrive, nj, pittsburghcbs
Mark Thomas says
lanes exclusively for trucks need to be provided in theses congested regions of the country. Otherwise the congestion problem will continue to get worst, further affecting truck driver pay and industry retention.
Jude says
One suggestion would be to let trucks passing through a metro area use the left lanes instead of enforcing the “right lane laws”.
Kevin Chevalier says
No trucks in left lane? really? that should be a through lane or express
lane for passing through vehicles and not for local use what Einstein
thought that up?
Jorge Machado says
Wow no mention of DC and Northern Virginia on interstate 95? There’s no excuse for Virginia not having another interstate N/S route thru that part of the state. The traffic starts in Baltimore and doesn’t let up till you’re well south of Petersburg heading south
William C Smith says
If you go thru DC and Baltimore on 95 you are going the wrong way take 50 out to 301 snd bypass Baltimore maybe 10 miles further but 45 minutes fadter
Josh says
Drive nights.
I’m in Chicago every night, and not that I, or any other trucker, would EVER exceed the posted speed limit (ha-ha!) but driving nights, you could do so without hitting the brakes, or anything else.
Plus, lots easier to find parking getting off at 8 am.
S. Higgins says
Amen Josh!!
Sharon says
I agree Josh. Plus the tolls are cheaper in Chicago overnight (10 pm – 6 am).
Glenn says
That’s a great idea…if you mostly drop/hook. But if your clock is running & your delv appt is at some point during business hours, whether delv around Chitcagoland or having to pass through that mess enroute to a destination further north, you don’t have that option of running at night when all the steering wheel holding solar drivers are idling their rattle trap bucket of bolts parked every which way at a slop stop. Id much rather run nights too, but when that damn ELD is running I gotta run whether its peak rush hour or not. Either way, running through Chicago sucks no matter when you do it. And practically everyone is driving w/ their phone in their face, but thats pretty much everywhere now.
Freebird says
The laws are the same with Eld and paper logs. Why do people keep talking about Eld’s
Chet Gerber says
What a traffic mess that Fort Lee. Actually the whole area. So happy I dont go there! Does anybody ever say how much toll revenue the George Washington brings in??
Craig Bernhardt says
The George Washington is $90 with Ezpass OR $105 cash. They charge you coming into NYC but free to cross back to NJ. I recommend crossing the Tappan Zee if coming from the North or the Goethals if coming from South. Both those bridges are now Ezpass or Toll by plate though. They don’t have cash booths anymore. If crossing the GWB try to get across before 6am, traffic is crazy between 630 and 11am. I’ve had to wait 2.5 hours before to get through in the AM.
Joe says
Enough to make the politicians rich when they steal it or divert it to “pet” projects where it’s not supposed to be used.
Buck says
Truckers going slow in the middle lane instead of right lane is adding to this problem. So when you pass that swift or schneider or God forbid prime in that lane hammer on horn and give them the lean
Stephen Palmer says
Washington dc 495 I any direction is a huge problem
Kevin Chevalier says
To many cockroaches living in the same area create congestion glad I’m a
country boy
Mike says
Great comment🤣😁
Robbie says
I was getting my 10 hrs down to a routine but my manager was screwing it up a lot. Night driving is better anywhere we go but it can’t be consistent if the pick up/deliver can’t be pushed by dispatched.
Ks says
I change my job once only becouse not to drive through 401 Toronto Canada. They have toll 407 but is the most expensive toll in N. America if not world. Yesterday was not bad only 2.5 h to go from Milton to Oshawa.
Mike C. says
the longest I have ever waited in a traffic jam was 8 hours coming across the GWB from Jersey heading home to RI . Way back in the late 70’s I had gone to Atlanta with another co driver and this is what we encountered when we hit NYC. It was this incident and others that made me think about using an alternate route . I don’t get many jams today because I drive at night and I only work 4.25 hours per day .
Greg Costello says
Here in Los Angeles the hwys are so bad with potholes, I’ve had parts of my dash come apart from the bouncing.Also the stupid voters passed a gas/veh tax 3 times & $ was to fix roads- yet the $ keeps going somewhere else. Don’t ask where because they don’t even know
Jeff R says
90/94 through downtown Chicago has got to be the most ridiculous lane set-up in the Western Hemisphere. Never not a headache.
95 going over the GWB is a breeze in comparison, with the express lanes and all.
Tom says
Here in LA as well… I’m about ready to start screaming at highway patrol / cal trans to fix the 10 thru pomona cuz their 20 year construction project causes my car to go out of lane, and when driving a truck thru there I think it took 10 years off my life due to the stress of dealing with the bumps, walls, uneven lanes, grade, and traffic!
I5 going thru San Fernando & down by Anaheim has the same effect on me, as does hwy 14, the desert hwy 138, and parts of the 99. Not to mention all the two lane highways that trucking companies have no business sending us down here in CA.
It’s a nightmare wrestling with bad drivers and bumpy roads simultaneously. Thanks Cal Trans!
Oh, and we don’t even GET snow here. Haha. Still can’t pack down concrete and build it properly. Probably costs too much.
Except we pay $3300 for reg tags on a truck here in CA for the ROADS. And we pay $1.80 a gallon in TAXES while NV and AZ pay next to nothing.
And we pay 6% in sales tax that’s supposed to go to CCC’s and CSU’s and UC’s, except somehow everyone forgot about that too so there’s no money for students.
And the new Federal law to pay white collar workers $921 a week? How about minimum wage above $7.25 for PROFESSIONAL TRUCK DRIVERS? Hmm?
Cost of living here in CA is $50k / year / household, but we’re getting paid $8 – $16 an hour. Doesn’t add up does it?
brucito says
It has taken me as long as four hours during rush hour to come south on I-95 from Co-op City to the NJ Turnpike in NYC. The ENTIRE northeast is a parking lot during the day and that is also where most new drivers abandon their trucks when I worked for Swift.