After several posts dealing with congress and politics and otherwise weighty issues, when I saw this I thought it would be a lot more “fun” to write about. While I do not think being stuck in traffic is fun, lists and rankings are. So here we go.
The American Trucking Research Institute (ATRI) released its annual study of the most congested “freight significant highway” interchanges. Their website lists the top 100 but you can delve into the list and go deeper than 100 if you choose to get their PDF sent to your email.
Here are their top 10 (worst) congested highway interchanges:
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- Atlanta, GA: I-285 at I-85 (North)
- Chicago, IL: I-290 at I-90/I-94
- Fort Lee, NJ: I-95 at SR 4
- Louisville, KY: I-64 at I-71
- Houston, TX: I-610 at US 290
- Houston, TX: I-10 at I-45
- Cincinnati, OH: I-71 at I-75
- Houston, TX: I-45 at US 59
- Los Angeles, CA: SR 60 at SR 57
- Houston, TX: I-10 at US 59
Here are a few observations:I was not at all surprised to see Atlanta on top. I’ve been once and their traffic is notoriously horrendous. I also wasn’t surprised to see a New York City location (Fort Lee, NJ) near the top. I was actually surprised a greater-Los Angeles interchange didn’t rank higher (worse) than 9th. I was very surprised to see four Houston, TX interchanges in the top 10 (Houston also has 2 more in the top 30, and another 4 within the top 80 – remind me not to drive a tractor-trailer through that area).
Living in Southern California, I wasn’t surprised to see several L.A. area interchanges on the list, in fact, I would have expected more (the L.A. area has 6 on the list). I’ve lived in the San Diego County since ’96. I was quite surprised not to see a single San Diego area interchange on this list.
Thanks for reading and stay safe out there!