Fourteen Highway Stretches In Texas Among Nation's Most Congested Highways

AUSTIN, TX — People in Austin like to complain about the traffic, and their gripes are justified. But according to a newly released study, the capital city is not even in the Top 10 of the nation's cities with the most congestion and bottlenecks.

I know, right? Given an infrastructure that was never meant to sustain the brisk influx of new residents moving to Austin, roads in the capital city can be awful and being stuck in snail-pace traffic a soul-sucking exercise in existentialism. Interstate 35 during rush hour traffic is the worst, as any Austin motorist can attest in between curse words and condemnation.

And don't get us started about Houston. Traffic in Space City doesn't allow for much space between vehicles in hours of peak traffic, and Houston still makes the Top 10 list nationwide.

Austinites: Believe it or not, the stretch of I-35 artery running through Austin is ranked 28th overall in terms of congestion nationwide, and 20 notches below the stretch of Interstate 45 that made the aforementioned Top 10 list.

Dallas twice makes an appearance on the national list, one stretch of highway (part of that cursed I-45) making the Top 12. Fort Worth also makes the dubious list, a section of I-35 at I-30 also making the most congested list.

But back to Houston: Motorists there deserve our unyielding respect and sympathy, with 10 different sections of highway there making the list of the 100 most congested arteries in the entire country. Houston, you have our sympathies.

All this painful data was compiled by the American Transportation Research Institute survey recently released. The group tabulates main arteries in cities across Texas in constructing its list.

In its reckoning, the 2017 Top Truck Bottleneck List assesses the level of truck-oriented congestion at 250 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from 600,000-plus heavy-duty 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, the surveys authors wrote.

The data is associated with the FHWA-sponsored Freight Performance Measures (FPM) initiative, and the locations detailed in this latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, officials said.

"Texas is a key freight generator and a critical link in the nation's supply chain," Texas Trucking Association President John D. Esparza said in a prepared statement. "ATRI's analysis allows us to target state and federal resources to keep trucks, and the economy, moving."

Without further ado (drum roll, please), here are the fourteen most congested stretches of highway in Texas:

• No. 8 – I-45 at US 59 in Houston
• No. 11 – I-10 at I-45 in Houston
• No. 12 – I-45 at I-30 in Dallas
• No. 13 – I-10 at US 59 in Houston
• No. 22 – I-610 at US 290 in Houston
• No. 25 – I-45 at I-610 North in Houston
• No. 28 – I-35 in Austin
• No. 33 – I-10 at I-610 West in Houston
• No. 49 – I-35W at I-30 in Ft. Worth
• No. 59 – I-610 at US 59 West in Houston
• No. 60 – US 75 at I-635 in Dallas
• No. 65 – I-45 at Sam Houston Tollway North in Houston
• No. 82 – I-45 at I-610 South in Houston
• No. 88 – I-10 at I-610 East in Houston

"Trucks move 70% of the nation's goods, so knowing where our highway system is most congested can lead to better decisions about what highways and bridges need improvement," said American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear. "And it is our hope that ATRI's research will guide states toward improving these pain points in the supply chain so our industry can continue to safely and efficiently moving the nation's goods."

For access to the full report, including detailed information on each of the 100 top congested locations, click here.

ATRI describes itself as 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.

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