Congestion Costs Trucking Industry $63.4 Billion, ATRI Report Says
ATRIBumper-to-bumper traffic along the country’s highways resulted in operational costs to the trucking industry of more than $63.4 billion in 2015, a new report by the American Transportation Research Institute found.
Nearly 90% of congestion costs was identified on 17% of the National Highway System. Most of the costs associated with traffic congestion took place in metropolitan areas, according to the report released May 16. The metropolitan area of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania topped the list with nearly $4.6 billion in congestion costs.
The top 10 states by congestion cost in 2015 were Florida, Texas, California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee and North Carolina. Trucking in Florida and Texas each experienced $5 billion in costs due to congestion, and they accounted for 16.5% of the cost of congestion nationwide, the report determined.
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The report, which relied on data from the Federal Highway Administration, noted that costs increased from 2014. That year, congestion added nearly $50 billion in operational costs.
“Between 2014 and 2015, delay costs changed by nearly $13.9 billion … significantly outpacing the decline in the national average per-hour operating cost” during that time, according to the report. “The lost productivity in 2015 is the equivalent of 362,243 commercial truck drivers sitting idle for an entire working year.”
“Congestion-related costs continue to rise and impact our supply chains. A five-minute delay for each UPS vehicle, every day, costs UPS $105 million annually in additional operating costs. ATRI’s report quantifies this drain on the economy, which must be addressed through targeted infrastructure investments,” Rich McArdle, president of UPS Freight, said in a statement. UPS ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
The full report is available for free at atri-online.org
