Let’s imagine 436,000 trucks, bumper to bumper, idling on a congested highway for an entire year. This is the cumulative wasted time experienced by all American truck drivers who have to spend hours in traffic jams throughout the year.
Drivers, and especially trucking companies, should consider bypassing congested road sections, if possible and, of course, cost-effective. It is worth monitoring the road situation on an ongoing basis and using navigation that not only warns about congested roads but also offers alternative routes.
INRIX is a company that analyzes road data on 7 continents, in 37 countries and in over 900 cities. According to the 2024 ranking, the most congested cities in the USA are New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Drivers in these metropolises waste 102 hours per year (New York and Chicago) and 97 hours in Los Angeles. On a global scale, these records are only beaten by drivers from Istanbul, Turkey, where they have to spend 105 hours a year in traffic jams.
Analysts at ATRI, the American Transportation Research Institute, using 2024 data, suggest that traffic conditions are systematically deteriorating compared to recent years.
In most cases, the reason is work zones, as the government has decided to invest more in road infrastructure. The average speed of trucks during peak hours in 2024 was 34.2 miles per hour, which is a 3% decrease compared to the previous year. Among the 10 most congested locations, the average speed of trucks during peak hours was 29.7 miles per hour.
In addition to the loss of time, these delays are also an evident waste of fuel, which means financial losses. Statistics provided by ATRI indicate that trucks burn an estimated 6.4 billion gallons of diesel and additionally emit over 65 million tons of carbon dioxide while sitting in traffic jams.
Loss of time, higher operating costs, negative impact on the environment, lower vehicle efficiency, and stress and fatigue of drivers are the main reasons why “bottlenecks” – congested roads – should be avoided.
Below are the 10 worst “bottlenecks” in the USA, according to the 14th annual edition published by ATRI:
Fort Lee, NJ, I-95 at SR-4
Chicago, IL, I-294 at I290/I-88
Houston, TX, I-45 at I-69/US 59
Atlanta, GA, I-285 at I-85 (north)
Nashville, TN, I-24/I-40 at I-440 (east)
Atlanta, GA, I-75 at I-285 (north)
Los Angeles, CA, SR 60 at SR 57
Cincinnati, OH, I-71 at I-75
Houston, TX, I-10 at I-45
Atlanta, GA, I-20 at I-285 (west)
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