Austin Roadway Among Nation's Worst Traffic Bottlenecks: Study

AUSTIN, TX — The Texas Capitol is home to one of the country's most congested bottlenecks for tractor-trailers and other vehicles, a study from the American Transportation Research Institute found.

The study uses GPS data from over 1 million freight trucks to make its determination. What it found is that one of Austin's main thoroughfares is among the worst bottlenecks in the country.

The study found that The Lone Star State is home to 12 of the nation's worst bottlenecks. While only one major bottleneck is situated in Austin, Houston is home to another eight. Dallas, meanwhile, is home to two more of the nation's worst bottlenecks, and Fort Worth is home to one.

In Austin, the worst bottleneck is I-35, which was found to have an average speed of only 38.5 mph. During heavy traffic, the average speed drops to 29.9 mph.

There is good news, however. Because the coronavirus pandemic lessened traffic in Austin, the average speed during peak traffic sped up by 91 percent between 2019 and 2020.

All told, I-35 in Austin is the No. 15 worst bottleneck in the country.

The country's 10 worst bottlenecks are:

1. Fort Lee, New Jersey: I-95 at State Route 4
2. Cincinnati, Ohio: I-71 at I-75
3. Atlanta, Georgia: I-285 at I-85 N
4. Atlanta, Georgia: I-20 at I-285 W
5. Houston, Texas: I-45 at I-69/US Highway 59
6. Chicago, Illinois: I-290 at I-90/I-94
7. Chattanooga, Tennessee: I-75 at I-24
8. St. Louis, Missouri: I-64/I-55 at I-44
9. Rye, New York: I-95 at I-287
10. San Bernardino, California: I-10 at I-15