Traffic jams cause $108 billion in wasted trucking costs, ATRI estimate says

Standing still doesn’t pay any bills. Traffic congestion on U.S. highways added a record $108.8 billion in costs to the trucking industry in 2022, the last full year for which costs are calculated.

That’s according to the latest Cost of Congestion study published by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). This finding, part of ATRI’s ongoing highway performance measurement research, marks a record-high national congestion cost.

To calculate the impacts of trucking delays on major U.S. roadways, ATRI utilized a variety of data sources, including its substantial truck GPS database and Operational Costs benchmarks.

Total hours of congestion decreased slightly in 2022 from record 2021 highs due to a softening freight market. But that was more than offset by the rising cost of operating a truck, which increased at a much greater rate.

As a result, the overall cost of congestion increased by 15% year-over-year. This level of delay is equivalent to more than 430,000 commercial truck drivers sitting idle for one work year and an average cost of $7,588 for every registered combination truck.

In addition to the national findings, ATRI’s analysis also documented state and metropolitan delays and related cost impacts.

The top 10 states each experienced costs of more than $8 billion, led by Texas ($9.17B), California ($8.77B), and Florida ($8.44B).

Combined, the top 10 states ultimately account for more than half (52%) of trucking’s congestion costs nationwide. Additionally, the metropolitan areas with the highest congestion costs included New York City ($6.68B), Miami ($3.20B), and Chicago ($3.14B).

ATRI’s analysis also found that the trucking industry wasted over 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel in 2022 due to congestion, resulting in additional fuel costs of $32.1 billion.

“With rising costs putting pressure on businesses and consumers alike, minimizing delays caused by congestion is more important than ever,” Frank Granieri, A. Duie Pyle COO of Supply Chain Solutions, said. “Addressing these challenges requires a shared commitment to modernize our infrastructure and strengthen the backbone of our economy: resilient and efficient supply chains.”

“Without question, this has been another tough year for the trucking industry,” said Gregg Troian, PGT Trucking president. “Our costs continued to climb while freight demand struggled. But each year we can count on ATRI’s analysis to not only quantify the issues, but more importantly, what we can collectively do as an industry to address each.”

State of the Economy and the lack of available Truck Parking retain their Nos. 1 and 2 rankings on the overall list, respectively. However, growing concern over the proliferation of nuclear verdicts led to Lawsuit Abuse Reform rising to the third spot this year. The largest climb in ranking this year came in Insurance Cost and Availability, which rose 8 spots to be the industry’s No. 4 concern overall. Rounding out the top five this year was Driver Compensation.

The continued focus on transitioning the nation’s truck fleet to battery electric—and the aggressive timelines and significant cost for doing so—drove Battery Electric Vehicles into the industry’s sixth overall concern, up four spots from last year.

Over 45% of the survey respondents were motor carrier executives and personnel. Truck drivers represented 31%. Among truck driver respondents, Truck Parking, Driver Compensation and the Economy were the top three concerns, while motor carriers ranked the Economy, Lawsuit Abuse Reform, and the Driver Shortage as the top three concerns. The report also includes a ranking of the top concerns of motor carrier enforcement personnel. Over 3,700 trucking industry stakeholders participated in the survey, including motor carriers, truck drivers, industry suppliers, driver trainers and law enforcement, among others.

In a related development, ATRI has issued a call for motor carriers to participate in a new survey examining hiring practices for truck drivers with prior criminal convictions. All responses will remain strictly confidential, ATRI said.

As the trucking industry tackles truck driver workforce challenges, ATRI is trying to explore underrepresented hiring pathways, including individuals with criminal histories. This survey examines motor carrier hiring practices, decision-making factors and workforce reintegration strategies.