ATRI utilized a variety of data sources including its unique truck GPS database to calculate trucking delay from 2017 through 2021 on major U.S. roadways.  While year-over-year congestion costs decreased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they rose sharply in 2021 with a total of 1.27 billion hours of lost productivity.   

This increase in costs reflects the dramatic post-COVID economic recovery, with high GDP growth and freight demand borne from record levels of consumer spending.  This level of delay equates to more than 460,000 commercial truck drivers sitting idle for one work year, and the 2021 figure represents a 27 percent increase from the report’s baseline year of 2016 – an increase that is twice the rate of inflation. 

Statewide costs in Texas ranked the second highest in the country at over $7.2 billion in 2021, a 13.9 percent increase from 2016.  

At the metropolitan level, Dallas had the largest total cost of congestion in the state for 2021 at nearly $1.8 billion, an increase of 29.94 percent over 2016.  The metro area had the sixth highest congestion costs among metropolitan areas nationally. 

The Houston metro, which ranked seventh in the nation, had costs of more than $1.6 billion in 2021, an increase of 20.21 percent from 2016.   

“Increased operating costs coupled with two major cities in the top ten for congestion costs, puts Texas’ trucking industry at a disadvantage,” said the Texas Trucking Association’s (TXTA) President and CEO John D. Esparza. “But with increased federal dollars, hopefully we can find a solution to keep our trucks and supply chain moving forward with more efficiency.”   

Texas is set to receive the second highest level of funding in the country from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) at $27.84 billion, which can be used to address congestion in the state. 

A copy of this report is available here. 

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.