Have you ever experienced shipment delays due to bottleneck roads and congestion? If you have you’re not alone! The U.S. is home to a ton of major highways that get incredibly congested at peak times. The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) release every year the ‘Top Truck Bottleneck List’ and recently they revealed their 2025 list. This list highlights the worst traffic chokepoints, across the nation, so you the shipper and us the transportation providers can effectively plan routes, and better anticipate time scales.

This year stats don’t lie, we’ve seen delays getting worse, with average truck speeds during rush hour 3% slower than last year, adding to costs and slowing supply chains. But what does this mean for us domestic shippers and carriers?

What Do Bottleneck Roads Mean In Trucking?

A trucking bottleneck is when a heavy amount of traffic congestion restricts the movement of freight, often times it’s highway interchanges and urban areas that are the culprits of bottleneck roads. These congested areas lead to significant delays, increased fuel consumption, and higher emission outputs. So, let’s take a look at some of the worst bottleneck roads in the States right now, contributing to these negative impacts.

Top 10 Worst Bottleneck Roads In The U.S. 2025

Coming in at number one is no surprise, it’s long term offender, for the seventh year in a row and that is Fort Lee, New Jersey, intersection of I-95 and State Route 4. But let’s see who’s following closely behind

1. Fort Lee, NJ (I-95)
2. Chicago: I-294 at I-290/I-88
3. Houston: I-45 at I-69/US 59
4. Atlanta: I-285 at I-85 (North)
5. Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East)
6. Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North)
7. Los Angeles: SR 60 at SR 57
8. Cincinnati: I-71 at I-75
9. Houston: I-10 at I-45
10. Atlanta: I-20 at I-285 (West)

What Does This Mean For Your Freight? 

Expect Delays in These Areas

Among these areas during rush hour, the average speed was recorded at 29.7 MPH which is less than half of the speed limit on rural highways (70MPH) and is actually closer to residential area speed limits (25MPH). Meaning longer transit times, potential delivery delays and businesses that do not account for these slower speeds may miss deadlines. Not only that but also expect to see higher costs, as more time on the road means increased fuel consumption and driver hours. In fact, the federal highway administration estimates that bottleneck roads cause over a huge 243 million hours of delays to truckers annually, how crazy is that?! 🤯.

Tip: If your freight needs to pass through any of these congested areas, it’s super important to build in extra time to your schedules to avoid missing deadlines and disappointment.

Higher Costs For Everyone Involved

These traffic congestions add on a massive $109 billion annually to transportation costs, which means higher bills for shippers but when we say higher costs we don’t only mean from a monetary perspective. Commuters, parents doing school runs and anyone else regularly using these roads suffer the impacts of being stuck day to day in these traffic jams.

Fuel Costs and Environmental Impact

Higher fuel costs are no shock in these scenarios, but what might shock you is the amount of diesel burnt by idling trucks, here’s a figure for you, 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel, which release a massive 65 million metric tons of carbon emissions each year. Again, how crazy are these stats?! These inefficiencies not only cost your bottom line but also the surrounding and further afield environment.

How To Avoid These Bottleneck Roads

There are a few ways to mitigate the risks of your freight being caught up in the congestion on these roads. If your freight is super urgent or you have a tight deadline then we’d recommend putting some of these procedures into action.

• Utilize out of regular hours services –  If your freight must pass through these areas and there is no way around it. You can work with a carrier that offers through the night transport, or early morning trucking. This way you can avoid peak times and congestion will hopefully be at a minimum level, allowing your freight to move through these areas much more efficiently.
• Seek alternative routes with your shipping partner using softwares – Using technology, you and your shipping partner can avoid as much congestion as possible by frequently checking real-time traffic update apps like, waze, google maps and advanced fleet management systems to help make on the fly decisions.

So What’s Next For These Bottleneck Roads?

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) 2021 is a U.S. federal law that provides funding for transportation and infrastructure projects over 5 years with a whopping commitment of $350 billion into our roads, bridges, railways and transit systems. This will run all of the way through until 30th September, 2026 and will hopefully continue to improve our infrastructures and roads nationwide.

Highlighting The Importance Of Investment Into Infrastructure

Take the Jane Byrne Interchange in Chicago for example, this was once not only in the top 10 most congested roads in the U.S. but actually ranked number one. Until recently when we saw capacity expansion efforts. These changes improved rush hour truck speeds by 25 percent, reducing delays, meaning lowered emissions and keeping your supply chains moving. This positive change really highlights the need and benefits of investment into our struggling infrastructure.

Conclusion

Traffic congestion on major routes is not just an inconvenience, but in fact a major disruptor to supply chains, costs and the environment. With delay statistics only growing year on year, it’s more important than ever for shippers and carriers to plan strategically to minimize the impact on these roads. Thanks to the ATRI, we are able to pinpoint exactly where our roads are struggling with the worst slowdowns and can better prepare for delays.

We’re hopeful that we will see some more great investments into our roads from the IIJA over the next year and a half and we’re looking forward to smoother highway travel 😁

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