This was timely for me - I get a chuckle when people complain about traffic in Charleston, and its not even in the top 100! It could be the way the data is reported, but most of the trucks would be centered around the airport and seaports and my guess is they funnel together on I-26, which also leads out to Summerville.
As for Austin, I was surprised that was on there (I never thought it was that bad but didn't do a standard commute). Lady Bird lake downtown is a waterway restirction (you are wrong there) and I-35 is the main thoroughfare, but MoPac on the other side also exists. I think its a combination of limited public transit, rapid expansion that the roads havent caught up with, and most people being priced out of downtown and having to commute from large suburbs like Round Rock. Its also pretty confusing (there are two different levels, weird on and off ramps, some bad lane merges) that probably create a lot more congestion than a standard highway should.
Lady Bird Lake isn't that restrictive, though. Including I-35 and MoPac, there are six crossings in the less than 4 miles that comprise central Austin. Nothing like the Hudson river in New York or San Francisco Bay. So Austin's congestion is still a bit of a mystery. The poor layout you mentioned helps explain it, however.
Like you mentioned there are some questionable or anomalous data points in this list. If the FHWA is going to go through the trouble of coming up with the metrics you think they'd double check their work or provide some context. At least an asterisk denoted sections under construction or detours because of construction would help.
As an example construction started on i70 in Denver (#32) in 2018, which caused some traffic to move to 270 (#36). That construction wasn't completed until about a month ago. I'd be curious to check back on those trends from 2017-2024 to see what effect if any the road improvements made. As you said these project must improve traffic flow! (/s)
I'm sure the FHWA wouldn't be proud of this list, but I'm also curious if they track overbuilt corridors (whatever the opposite of a bottleneck is). I think it would be valuable to know when they thought a lane expansion was warranted, but turned out to be unnecessary or underutilized.
This was timely for me - I get a chuckle when people complain about traffic in Charleston, and its not even in the top 100! It could be the way the data is reported, but most of the trucks would be centered around the airport and seaports and my guess is they funnel together on I-26, which also leads out to Summerville.
As for Austin, I was surprised that was on there (I never thought it was that bad but didn't do a standard commute). Lady Bird lake downtown is a waterway restirction (you are wrong there) and I-35 is the main thoroughfare, but MoPac on the other side also exists. I think its a combination of limited public transit, rapid expansion that the roads havent caught up with, and most people being priced out of downtown and having to commute from large suburbs like Round Rock. Its also pretty confusing (there are two different levels, weird on and off ramps, some bad lane merges) that probably create a lot more congestion than a standard highway should.
Lady Bird Lake isn't that restrictive, though. Including I-35 and MoPac, there are six crossings in the less than 4 miles that comprise central Austin. Nothing like the Hudson river in New York or San Francisco Bay. So Austin's congestion is still a bit of a mystery. The poor layout you mentioned helps explain it, however.
Like you mentioned there are some questionable or anomalous data points in this list. If the FHWA is going to go through the trouble of coming up with the metrics you think they'd double check their work or provide some context. At least an asterisk denoted sections under construction or detours because of construction would help.
As an example construction started on i70 in Denver (#32) in 2018, which caused some traffic to move to 270 (#36). That construction wasn't completed until about a month ago. I'd be curious to check back on those trends from 2017-2024 to see what effect if any the road improvements made. As you said these project must improve traffic flow! (/s)
I'm sure the FHWA wouldn't be proud of this list, but I'm also curious if they track overbuilt corridors (whatever the opposite of a bottleneck is). I think it would be valuable to know when they thought a lane expansion was warranted, but turned out to be unnecessary or underutilized.
Springfield, IL has great highway infrastructure that they definitely don't need. I wonder why that is...