CT Roads Among Nation's Worst Traffic Bottlenecks: Study

CONNECTICUT — The state capital is home to two of the country's most congested bottlenecks for tractor-trailers and other vehicles, a study from the American Transportation Research Institute found.

The junctions of Interstates 84 and 91, and Interstate 91 and US 5, in Hartford, are N0. 30 and No. 75, respectively, on the list of the 100 worst truck bottlenecks in the nation. The study relied on GPS data from over 1 million freight trucks.

Here are the wort roadway offender in Connecticut, alongside their ranking nationally:

30. Hartford: I-84 at I-91

34. Stamford: I-95

40. Norwalk: I-95

41. Waterbury: I-84 at SR 8

75. Hartford: I-91 at US 5

87. New Haven: I-95 at I-91

90. Bridgeport: I-95 at SR 8/SR 25

The average vehicle speed along I-84 at I-91 in Hartford is just 50.6 mph, and that drops to 47.1 mph during those counter-intuitively named "rush hours." The average speed along I-95 through Stamford is only 47 mph, and that sputters down to 40.9 during peak traffic times. The full low-down on the Connecticut slow-downs can be found here.

If there is any good news to be found in the study, it's that the coronavirus has done wonders for traffic congestion in the state. The average speed during peak traffic through Hartford's tightest grind sped up by 43.8 percent between 2019 and 2020.

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