Congestion Costs Trucking Industry $108.8 Billion Nationwide:
Texas Costs Exceed $9.1 Billion

FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION—December 18, 2024
TXTA Contact: Julie Hagen 
julie@texastrucking.com 

AUSTIN, TX — Traffic congestion on U.S. highways added $108.8 billion in costs to the trucking industry in 2022 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 new record-high national congestion cost.
 
ATRI utilized a variety of data sources, including its substantial truck GPS database and Operational Costs benchmarks, to calculate the impacts of trucking delays on major U.S. roadways. The total hours of congestion decreased slightly in 2022 from record 2021 highs due to a softening freight market, but the cost of operating a truck during this period increased at a much greater rate. 
 
As a result, the overall cost of congestion increased by 15.0 percent 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.
 
Statewide costs in Texas ranked highest in the country at over $9.1 billion in 2022, a 26.4 percent increase from 2021.
 
At the metropolitan level, Dallas had the largest total cost of congestion in the state for 2022 at over $2.1 billion, an increase of 17.2 percent over 2021.  The metro area had the fifth highest congestion costs among metropolitan areas nationally.
 
The Houston metro, which ranked eighth in the nation, had costs of nearly $1.9 billion in 2022, an increase of 15.0 percent from 2021. 
 
"Texas faces significant transportation challenges, with 13 of the top 100 most congested roadways in the nation impacting our economic efficiency and supply chain performance," said John D. Esparza, TXTA President and CEO. "However, by investing in infrastructure improvements and innovative solutions, we can alleviate these bottlenecks and reduce the economic burden on our trucking industry.
 
A copy of this report is available here.
 

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ATRI is the trucking industry’s 501(c)(3) not-for-profit research organization. It is engaged in critical research relating to freight transportation’s essential role in maintaining a safe, secure and efficient transportation system.