According to a recent study by ARTBA Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black, the US economy took a $42 billion hit in 2019 due to bottlenecks. Data collected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and analyzed by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) arrived at the following 2019 stats:
*Congestion on our nation’s highways resulted in nearly 660 million collective hours of delays for freight shipments, equivalent to 27 million days or roughly 75,000 years. As the study notes, 1/3rd of these were Interstate delays. (1)
*New York, NY/NJ-Chicago, IL-Los Angeles, CA-Austin, TX-and Houston, TX rounded off the top five locations with the greatest bottlenecks. New York, NY/NJ experienced 263,116 hours of delay per mile while Chicago accumulated 140,942 hours of delay per mile, followed closely behind by Los Angeles at 139,777.
*Congestion costs rose 25% from 2017 to 2019, hitting over $15 billion. California had a whopping congestion cost of $6.2 billion followed by Texas at $4 billion and Florida at $2.6 billion. Pennsylvania, Road Scholar Transport’s home base, came in at $1.4 billion.
*When looking at the top 10 bottlenecks, congestion cost increased YOY by 11%, reaching $848.4 million. (2)
*More than half of the United States (26 states) had congestion costs each year of $500 million or more.
As the study notes, “Nearly 73 percent of the value of domestic freight is shipped via truck and the value of truck shipments is expected to more than double by 2045.” (1)
To read the full report, click here.
Congestion causing delays for your freight? We can help. Road Scholar has the ability to monitor and react to road conditions/reroute equipment. Our ShowMe feature allows us to use the Google Maps traffic congestion overlay to see where our trucks are and where traffic may affect delivery in order to choose the best route to avoid delays so that your product line in not on hold or reputation with your customer is not tainted.
Additionally, Road Scholar is preventing delays and damaged or loss of freight with our anti-crash technology. Road Scholar has an ACB system (Active Cruise with Braking) installed on our trucks that allows us to maintain a set distance of 8/10ths of a mile marker behind a forward vehicle.
Not only does Road Scholar incorporate the Bendix Wingman ACB on its trucks, but ESP (Electronic Stability Program) as well. This system is especially good for icy or wet weather conditions where wheels lose their grip, or taking a curve too quickly, which can result in a rollover.
These are just some reasons why Road Scholar has a low damage claim rate of just 0.0003%, in addition to qualified drivers and safe equipment.
Are in transit delays from your current carrier becoming an issue of concern? Let us know. Road Scholar Transport will do a free audit of your lanes and offer some suggestions on route optimization.
(1)https://www.artba.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Freight-Congestion.pdf
