Trucking congestion costs hit record $94.6B

Congestion cost trucking companies a record $94.6 billion in 2021, according to a new study published by the American Transportation Research Institute, with Nevada, Louisiana, Georgia and California seeing the biggest rate increases from a 2016 baseline.

“Whether it is recurring congestion or incident-related, the result is reduced capacity and a slowdown in vehicle speeds, which adds time to a trip,” stated ATRI, a nonprofit trucking research group, in its first congestion study update since 2018.

“These delays increase the trucking industry’s operational costs. Traffic congestion increases direct industry costs such as driver compensation, fuel, and repair and maintenance. It also generates indirect and/or societal costs such as supply chain disruptions, inefficient use of fuel and diminished air quality.”

ATRI’s 2021 congestion costs — based on the cost-per-hour to operate a truck, average truck highway speeds and the most recent truck volume data — were 22.4% higher than 2020’s and 27% higher than the 2016 baseline. During that same five-year period, the Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation, increased 12.9%, ATRI noted.

“Thus, congestion costs for trucks rose at more than twice the rate of the CPI as a result of increased industry costs, congested roadways and a record high national truck VMT [vehicle miles traveled] in 2021.”

Rapidly increasing diesel prices between 2020 and 2021, along with increases in trucking rates and volumes, were significant contributing factors to the record-high cost of congestion, the group stated.

The four most populous states — California, Texas, Florida and New York, respectively — also had the highest congestion costs, ranging from $4.9 billion for New York to $9 billion for California in 2021.

But Nevada, Louisiana and Georgia saw the highest percentage increases compared with 2016, at 117.2%, 83.3% and 81.3%, respectively. California was fourth, with congestion costs there increasing 77.9%. Alaska had the lowest state-wide congestion costs ($62 million), while Alaska, Wyoming, and Hawaii had the largest percent decreases since 2016 (20%, 18.2%, and 9.4%, respectively).

The study pointed out that when the overall congestion cost is distributed across the country’s registered tractor-trailers, the average annual cost per truck is $6,824 — equal to 3% of the average annual revenue generated per truck in the truckload sector in 2021, according to ATRI.

The group plans to update the study annually, making it a tool to help Congress gauge the need for infrastructure investments.

“While the federal fuel taxes have not been raised since 1993 and most states have been forced to dramatically reduce infrastructure spending relative to needs, the 117th U.S. Congress did pass a landmark infrastructure spending bill that generates more than $350 billion dollars in dedicated transportation spending,” according to the study.

“By the end of Year 2 of the five-year IIJA [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] program, transportation projects totaling more than $74 billion had been awarded or announced, ostensibly focused on congestion reduction, road safety and/or freight transportation priorities.”

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Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

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