NJ-NY crossing ranked worst truck freight bottleneck again

Looking at the latest list of the worst freight bottlenecks in the country reminds one of what New York Yankees great Yogi Berra once said: “It’s deja vu all over again.”

The American Transportation Research Institute today released its annual list of the 100 worst highway bottlenecks for trucks on American highways, and for the second year in a row, the intersection of I-95 and SR 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey tops the list. The intersection that funnels traffic from New Jersey across the nearly-90-year-old George Washington Bridge into New York City was the second worst in 2018 and 2017.

See the entire list of 100 worst bottlenecks.

This year’s complete top 10 includes:

1. Fort Lee, New Jersey: I-95 at SR 4
2. Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North)
3. Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East)
4. Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59
5. Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North)
6. Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94
7. Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West)
8. Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75
9. Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57
10. Los Angeles: I-710 at I-105

This is last year’s top 10 list looked like:

1. Fort Lee, New Jersey: I-95 at SR 4
2. Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North)
3. Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North)
4. Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57
5. Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59
6. Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75
7. Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94
8. Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East)
9. Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West)
10. Los Angeles: I-710 at I-105

Here are the worst bottlenecks from 2018’s rankings:

1. Atlanta: Interstates 285 and 85 North
2. Fort Lee, New Jersey: I-95 at SR 4
3. Chicago: I-290 at I-90/I-94
4. Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North)
5. Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57
6. Boston: I-95 at I-90
7. Baltimore: I-695 at I-70
8. Queens, New York: I-495
9. Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75
10. Louisville, Kentucky: I-65 at I-64/I-71

And, from 2017:

1. Atlanta: I-285 and I-85 North
2. Fort Lee, New Jersey: I-95 at State Route 4
3. Chicago: I-290 at I-90/94
4. Louisville, Kentucky: I-65 at I-64/71
5. Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75
6. Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57
7. Auburn, Washington: SR 18 at SR 167
8. Houston: I-45 at US 59
9. Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 North
10. Seattle: I-5 at I-90

ATRI’s list assesses the level of truck-involved congestion at 300 locations. That analysis is based on GPS data from over 1 million heavy-duty trucks.

And, we offer another Yogi-ism for how to navigate any tricky spots along our nation’s highways: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”