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3/31/2006 Bottlenecks-Millions of Hours, Billions of Dollars
The Federal Highway Administration, FHWA, has released a new study, “An Initial Assessment of Freight Bottlenecks on Highways,” that examines the costs and effects of highway bottlenecks on the transportation industry in the U.S. Far from being just a source of irritation and frustration to drivers and motor carriers, highway bottlenecks exact a very real toll in time and money on the nation’s economy. The FHWA study, conducted by Cambridge Systematics Inc., estimated that in 2004 some 243 million hours and $7.8 billion were lost by the trucking industry due to bottlenecked traffic. In addition, the study found that bottlenecks were a symptom of a deeper freight transportation capacity crises. The nation’s highway infrastructure is simply not expanding rapidly enough to keep up with demand.
Bottlenecks are defined in the study as, “specific physical locations on highways that routinely experience recurring congestion and traffic backups because traffic volumes exceed highway capacity.” These types of bottlenecks are differentiated from traffic congestion caused by temporary non-recurring conditions such as accidents, construction, breakdowns, weather conditions, etc.
Overall, bottlenecks account for 40% of commercial motor vehicle delays followed by traffic incidents (25%), bad weather conditions (15%), construction zones (10%), mis-timed traffic signals (5%), and special events/occurrences (5%). The FHWA study analyzed four major types of bottlenecks along highway freight corridors – highway interchanges, signalized intersections, steep grades, and lane reductions.
Bottlenecks which occur on highways with large volumes of truck traffic are called “freight bottlenecks.” They are found on highways serving major international gateways, at large domestic freight hubs, and in major urban areas where intercontinental freight lanes intersect with congested urban freight routes. These bottlenecks delay both intercity and long-haul and international truck traffic because they occur at many of the key intersections of the nation’s long-haul and transcontinental freight corridors.
The problem of freight bottlenecks has grown as the economy has expanded and created a greater demand for goods of all types. During the past two decades the U.S. has seen a steady increase in global and regional trade which has fueled the demand for freight transportation. Between 1990 and 2000 U.S. international trade more than doubled to $2.2 trillion. Since NAFTA took effect in 1994, U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico has risen by more than 90%.
The growth in international trade has placed great pressure on the highways that service the border crossings, ports and airports through which this trade flows, and that pressure is expected to grow. In 2004, 2.7 million 18 wheelers hauled 9.8 billion tons of freight. By 2016 the American Trucking Association, ATA, projects that 3.7 million 18 wheelers will haul 13 billion tons of freight.
The executive summary of the FHWA study noted that; “Highway freight bottlenecks, especially interchange bottlenecks, are of Federal interest because they are a significant national problem for trucking and the efficient operation of the national freight transportation system….Freight bottlenecks are a problem today because they delay large numbers of truck freight shipments. They will become increasingly problematic in the future as the U.S. economy grows and generates more demand for truck freight shipments.” The same summary concluded with a warning; “Without new strategies to increase capacity, congestion at freight bottlenecks on highways may impose an unacceptably high cost on the nation’s economy and productivity.”
Top 10 Highway Interchange Bottlenecks for Trucks
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