Two Of The Country’s Worst Traffic Bottlenecks Are In Phoenix

During your daily commute around the Valley, are there two particular areas that seem far worse than others that you wish you could avoid?

A new national study from the American Transportation Research Institute confirms that two particular freeway intersections in the Phoenix area are ranked among the “2020 Top Truck Bottleneck List” and are rated among the 100 worst areas for congestion in the country.

In Phoenix, the worst area for congestion according to the ATRI study is Interstate 17 at the intersection of Interstate 10, ranked 30th in the U.S. for traffic snarls. Average traffic speed in that area over a 24-hour period is only 42.8 mph, dipping to 34 mph between 7 and 8 a.m. and only about 22 mph between 4 and 6 p.m. The average speed in that area is 2% slower than a year ago, the study said.

The second-worst area in Phoenix for congestion is along I-10 at the U.S. Highway 60 interchange, ranked No. 69 in the U.S., according to ATRI. Average speed in that area over 24 hours is somewhat better than the 1-17/I-10 intersection, at 47.7 mph. Traffic speeds along I-10 at U.S. 60 drop to about 32 mph between 7 and 9 a.m. and average about 37 mph between 3 and 6 p.m. Traffic speeds in this area were 3.3% slower than a year ago, the study reported.

According to ATRI, the report “assesses the level of truck-involved congestion at 300 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from more than 1 million 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. ATRI’s truck GPS data is also used to support the U.S. DOT’s Freight Mobility Initiative.

Topping the list for the second-straight year as the most-congested highway in the nation is the intersection of Interstate 95 and State Route 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The rest of the top 10:

Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North)
Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East)
Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59
Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North)
Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94
Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West)
Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75
Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57
Los Angeles: I-710 at I-105.

Click here to read the full report.