Anyone who has traveled Atlanta’s interstates knows where the trouble spots — those areas where traffic always seems to be standing still — are.
If you’ve thought, “This must be the worst bottleneck in the country,” you’d almost be correct.
» 3 of America's 10 worst truck bottlenecks of 2019 are in metro Atlanta
The worst bottleneck, at least for tractor-trailers, is I-95 and SR 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey, according to the American Transportation Research Institute. But Nos. 2, 5,7, 24, 48, 62 and 71 are in Georgia, and all but No. 62 are in the metro Atlanta area.
Since 2002, ATRI has collected and processed truck GPS data to monitor performance of the nation's freightliners. The 2020 Top Truck Bottleneck List assesses the level of truck-involved congestion at 300 locations on the national highway system, ATRI wrote in a press release.
“ATA has been beating the drum about the continued degradation of our infrastructure, and thanks to ATRI’s research we can see exactly how decades of ignoring the problem are impacting not just our industry but our economy and commuters everywhere,” American Trucking Associations president and CEO Chris Spear said.
» Atlanta traffic news on AJC.com
The five steps in the analysis were:
- Identification of study population through extraction of relevant commercial truck data during all weekdays of the year 2017 at 300 specific locations using an extensive truck GPS database;
- Application of data quality tools and techniques;
- Application of a four-step analysis process that utilizes vehicle time, date and speed information;
- Calculation of total freight congestion values and ranking (congestion index); and
- Production of detailed congestion profiles for the 100 top ranked locations.
» Flashback photos: Spaghetti Junction through the years
Here are the worst truck bottlenecks in Georgia:
I-285 at I-85 (north)
National rank: 2
Average speed: 34
Peak average speed: 22.4
Nonpeak average speed: 40.2
percent change year-over-year: -0.6%
I-75 at I-285 (north)
National rank: 5
Average speed: 40.5
Peak average speed: 29.2
Nonpeak average speed: 46.4
percent change year-over-year: 5%
I-20 at I-285 (west)
National rank: 7
Average speed: 42
Peak average speed: 36.4
Nonpeak average speed: 45.2
percent change year-over-year: -0.8%
I-20 at I-285 (east)
National rank: 24
Average speed: 45
Peak average speed: 38.3
Nonpeak average speed: 47.9
percent change year-over-year: -1.2%
I-20 at I-75/I-85
National rank: 48
Average speed: 37.3
Peak average speed: 26.9
Nonpeak average speed: 41.8
percent change year-over-year: -3.1%
I-75 in McDonough
National rank: 62
Average speed: 51.6
Peak average speed: 49.3
Nonpeak average speed: 52.4
percent change year-over-year: -2.7%
I-75 at I-85
National rank: 71
Average speed: 34.9
Peak average speed: 23.5
Nonpeak average speed: 40.2
percent change year-over-year: 0.01%
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