Congestion, the bane of freight haulers everywhere, especially as hours of service are more tightly registered. To give truckers, the public at large, and transportation planners a sense of where congestion is at its worst, Th American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) releases an annual report of the top 100 highway bottlenecks. 2020 was certainly a different year with Covid-19 related impacts interacting with traffic patterns. Yet, 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, significantly impacting New York City, which is reliant on trucks to deliver around 90 percent of goods and services.
Unfortunately, six of the top 100 happen to be in New York:
- 9: Rye: I-95 at I-287
- 14: Brooklyn: I-278 at Belt Parkway
- 29: Queens: I-495
- 46: Bronx: I-678
- 61: Manhasset: I-495 at Shelter Rock Road
- 86: Buffalo-Niagara Falls: I-90 at I-290
Since freight transportation is an interstate business, there are other bottlenecks that impact movement in the New York Metro area. Connecticut, which looking to add a burdensome and ill-advised highway use tax (HUT) on the industry has seven of the top 100 bottlenecks:
- 30: Hartford: I-84 at I-91
- 34: Stamford: I-95
- 40: Norwalk: I-95
- 41: Waterbury: I-84 at SR 8
- 75: Hartford: I-91 at US 5
- 87: New Haven: I-95 at I-91
- 90: Bridgeport: I-95 at SR 8/SR 25
This is to say nothing of bottlenecks in Pennsylvania and Ohio which cause delays as well. “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 (ATA) President and CEO Chris Spear.
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