Moving Words – Bottlenecks
Timothy Brady
“As a species, we’ve somehow survived large and small ice ages, genetic bottlenecks, plagues, world wars and all manner of natural disasters, but I sometimes wonder if we’ll survive our own ingenuity.” – Diane Ackerman
The moving industry is constantly impacted by large volumes of traffic in the course of providing their services to individuals, companies and governments. Over the past five years, congestion has increased a staggering 92%, significantly outpacing the 10% traffic growth over the same period.
As we in the industry know, effectively and efficiently scheduling our moving and pack crews in most congested areas in the country is a very difficult task. Having crews stuck in traffic costs money in increased labor costs, and then by not being able to complete as many moving tasks. One adds to our expenses while the other reduces our revenue.
The first step to finding a solution is knowing where and when traffic congestion is occurring. Since we have very little control in reducing the congestion, the second step is to find work-arounds in how we dispatch our crews, avoiding the times when congestion is worst. Third step, figuring out ways to stage our crews closer to the places they need to be so they can avoid the congestion altogether.
So let’s take look at the first step, knowing where and when congestion is happening.
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) recently released its annual list highlighting the most congested bottlenecks for trucks in America for 2020.
The 2020 Top Truck Bottleneck List assesses the level of truck-involved congestion at 300 locations on the national highway system. The analysis, based on truck GPS data from over one million heavy-duty trucks, uses 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. 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 intersection of I-95 and SR 4 in Fort Lee, New Jersey is once again the Number One freight bottleneck in the country. The rest of the Top 10 includes:
- 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, GA: I-75 at I-285 (North)
- Chicago, IL: I-290 at I-90/I-94
- Atlanta, GA: I-20 at I-285 (West)
- Cincinnati, OH: I-71 at I-75
- Los Angeles, CA: SR 60 at SR 57
- Los Angeles, CA: I-710 at I-105
As an example of how to use this information, here’s how the Tennessee DOT uses the data from the report. “ATRI’s bottleneck analysis is an important tool for TDOT as we work to maximize the safety and efficiency of our transportation system, and ensure we are making the smartest investments possible,” said Tennessee Department of Transportation Assistant Bureau Chief Freight & Logistics Dan Pallme. “The additional capacity we are providing as part of the ongoing I-440 Reconstruction Project should improve the safety and reliability of this important corridor, which we know is critical to freight movement.”
ATRI’s analysis, which utilized data from 2019, confirmed the number of locations experiencing significant congestion – with average daily speeds of 45 MPH or less – has increased dramatically since 2014.
“ATA has been beating the drum about the continued degradation of our infrastructure, and thanks to ATRI’s research we can see exactly how decades of ignoring the problem are impacting not just our industry but our economy and commuters everywhere,” said American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear. “This report should sound the alarm for policymakers that the cost of doing nothing is too high, and provide a roadmap of where to target investments to really solve our nation’s mounting infrastructure crisis.”
To plan your own roadmap for solving your moving company’s traffic congestion problems, you can access the full report, including detailed information on each of the 100 top congested locations. Please visit ATRI’s website at TruckingResearch.org.
