These Charlotte Area Bottlenecks Among Worst In US, Truckers Say

CHARLOTTE, NC — Perhaps in what will come as absolutely no surprise to any Charlotte-area driver, the Queen City region has two of the worst bottlenecks in the country, according to a trucking industry group.

The two spots along Interstate 77 -- near Lake Norman and at Interstate 485 South -- made the American Transportation Research Institute's annual list of the nation's 100 Top Truck Bottlenecks.

The two Charlotte-area interchanges were the only bottlenecks in North Carolina to rate the list by the research institute, which is an arm of the American Trucking Associations, the largest trade association for the trucking industry in the United States.

See the ATRI's 2018 100 Top Truck Bottlenecks list here.

The list assesses the level of truck-oriented congestion at 300 locations in the U.S. highway system. The analysis is based on truck GPS data from more than 600,000 trucks, using several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location.

"Measuring the performance of freight movement across our nation's highways is critical to understanding where and at what level investment should be made," the institute said in its report. "The information provided through this effort can empower decision-making in both the private and public sectors by helping stakeholders better understand the severity of congestion and mobility constraints on the U.S. highway transportation system."

Here are the top worst highway interchanges in the U.S., according to the list:

• I-285 at I-85 -- Atlanta, Georgia
• I-95 at SR4 -- Fort Lee, New Jersey
• I-290 at I-90/I-94 -- Chicago, Illinois
• I-75 at I-285 -- Atlanta, Georgia
• SR 60 at SR 57 -- Los Angeles, California
• I-95 at I-90 -- Boston, Massachusetts
• I-695 at I-70 -- Baltimore, Maryland
• I-495 -- Queens, New York
• I-71 at I-75 -- Cincinnati, Ohio
• I-65 at I-64/I-71 -- Louisville, Kentucky

Patch Editor Doug Gross contributed to the story

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