The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) Wednesday named the intersection of I-95 and SR 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey as the number one freight bottleneck in the U.S., for the fourth year in a row. 

ATRI’s analysis, which utilized data from 2021, found traffic levels rebounded across the country as more Americans returned to work and consumer demand for goods and services continued to grow. 

Consequently, supply chain bottlenecks occurred throughout the country. Average rush hour truck speeds were 38.6 mph, down more than 11% from the previous year.

The 2022 Top Truck Bottleneck List highlighting the most congested areas measures the level of truck-involved congestion at more than 300 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from more than one 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. 

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 rest of the top 10 includes:

• 2. Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75
• 3. Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59
• 4. Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North)
• 5. Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West)
• 6. Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94
• 7. Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57
• 8. Dallas: I-45 at I-30
• 9. San Bernardino, California: I-10 at I-15
• 10. Chattanooga, Tennessee: I-75 at I-24

“ATRI’s bottleneck list is a roadmap for federal and state administrators responsible for prioritizing infrastructure investments throughout the country. Every year, ATRI’s list highlights the dire needs for modernizing and improving our roads and bridges,” said Chris Spear, American Trucking Associations president and CEO .