This Road In MD Ranks Among Top 100 Traffic Bottlenecks In U.S. For 2022

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Maryland has made it onto a list of the Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks for 2022.

The list is compiled each year by the American Transportation Research Institute to measure the level of truck-involved congestion at more than 300 locations across the national highway system.

Interstate 695 and I-70 in Baltimore County made the list, clocking in at No. 100.

Topping the nation for the fourth year in a row is New Jersey's Interstate 95 at State Route 4 in Fort Lee. Next up is I-71 at I-75 in Cincinnati at No. 2, and Houston's I-45 at I-69/US 59.

To rate congestion, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) uses GPS data from more than 1 million freight trucks and customized software applications.

The data also is used to support the U.S. Department of Transportation's Freight Mobility Initiative, officials said.

In 2021, researchers found traffic levels across the country rebounded as more Americans went back to work amid the pandemic and demand for consumer goods and services bounced back following the early months of the coronavirus. The result was bottlenecking in supply chains, ATRI President and CEO Chris Spear said.

"ATRI's bottleneck list is a roadmap for federal and state administrators responsible for prioritizing infrastructure investments throughout the country," Spear said. "Every year, ATRI's list highlights the dire needs for modernizing and improving our roads and bridges. We have seen, most recently in Pittsburgh, that the cost of doing nothing could also cost lives. It's time to fund these projects and get our supply chains moving again."

For the full list of the top 100 bottlenecks and to read the report, go to ATRI's website.

— By Patch Editors Marcus Garner and Elizabeth Janney