Tennessee Places Six Locations On List Of Nation's Worst Bottlenecks

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American Transportation Research Institute

Feb 24, 2021, 07:00 ET

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Transportation Research Institute today released its annual list highlighting the most congested bottlenecks for trucks in America, and six Tennessee locations made the top 100, including two in the top 15 in the country.

"Tennessee is at the crossroads of the country, and increasingly that intersection is being choked by congestion," said Tennessee Trucking Association President Dave Huneryager. "Despite the pandemic, trucks continued moving and delivering their critical loads, but their jobs were made more difficult by these chokepoints. Continuing roadway construction in Nashville and Chattanooga certainly contributed to these rankings, but the fact that there were still significant bottlenecks in our highway system even though people drove less is proof positive that we need to continue investing in infrastructure to make our roads and bridges safer and more efficient."

The 2021 Top Truck Bottleneck List measures the level of truck-involved congestion at over 300 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from over 1 million freight trucks uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. ATRI's truck GPS data is also used to support the U.S. DOT's Freight Mobility Initiative. The bottleneck locations detailed in this latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, although ATRI continuously monitors more than 300 freight-critical locations.

The six Tennessee bottlenecks are:

No. 7 Chattanooga: I-75 at I-24
No. 13 Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East)
No. 35 Nashville: I-40 at I-65 (East)
No. 53 Chattanooga: I-24 at US 27
No. 77 Nashville: I-65 at I-24
No. 88 Nashville: I-65 at SR 386

"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 President and CEO Chris Spear. "The cost of doing nothing is always higher than the cost of fixing these problems and we cannot wait any longer to address this mounting crisis."

For access to the full report, including detailed information on each of the 100 top congested locations, please visit ATRI's website at TruckingResearch.org.

ATRI is the trucking industry's 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation's essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system.

SOURCE American Transportation Research Institute