Chicago’s Interstates 294 and 290/88 junction west of downtown has overtaken Fort Lee, New Jersey, as the nation’s slowest freight corridor, according to the American Transportation Research Institute’s 2026 bottleneck rankings released February 24.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_0]
Chicago Interchange Now Ranked Worst Freight Bottleneck
The Hillside interchange climbed from second to first in ATRI’s 15-year tally after 2025 data showed trucks averaging 25.4 mph at rush hour—barely faster than a city cyclist. The crawl wastes the equivalent of 436,000 drivers sitting idle for a full year, said Rebecca Brewster, the group’s president and COO. “Congestion is a payroll problem, not just a pavement problem,” she added.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_1]
How ATRI Measures Truck Delay
Researchers crunched 25 billion anonymous GPS pings from rigs traveling 325 freight-heavy highway segments. Algorithms score peak-period slowdowns, delay duration, and freight density; the 100 highest scores make the list. Nationwide, average rush-hour truck speed fell 2.8 percent to 33.2 mph in 2025, the fourth straight annual drop.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_2]
Fort Lee Falls to Second After Nine-Year Run
The George Washington Bridge approach in Fort Lee—site of 2013’s “Bridgegate” scandal—had topped every list since 2012. Ramp signals and fresh pavement lifted average truck speed 0.7 mph last year, but deck work on the upper level could restore gridlock in 2027 if traffic rebounds quickly.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_3]
South, Midwest Dominate 2026 Top Ten
Atlanta and Houston each place three corridors in the upper tier. In Atlanta, the I-285 junctions with I-85 (North), I-75 (North), and I-20 (West) rank third, fifth, and sixth. Houston’s I-69/US 59 interchanges with I-45 and I-10 sit fourth and eighth, reflecting petrochemical and port traffic back to pre-pandemic levels. Nashville, Cincinnati, and McDonough, Georgia, fill the remaining spots.
[IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_4]
Illinois Rolls Out $4 Billion Tri-State Fix
State crews began a $1.2 billion first phase of a $4 billion rebuild of the Central Tri-State Tollway, the main feeder into the problem interchange. Plans call for a fourth lane each way, new bridges, and real-time ramp metering. The Jane Byrne Interchange dropped out of the top 25 after an $800 million upgrade finished in 2023; officials hope the Tri-State project, due in 2029, repeats that result.
Carrier and Shipper Work-Arounds
- Overnight detours via I-355 and I-80 bypass the Hillside tangle.
- Add 60-minute buffers for Chicago-area arrivals through 2029.
- Download ATRI’s free quarterly spreadsheet to price detours before bidding on regional lanes.
- Tender loads before 5 a.m. or after 8 p.m.; speeds inside the top 10 corridors jump 11 mph outside peak hours.
Source: American Transportation Research Institute
Comments