For nearly 25 years, the American Transportation Research Institute has analyzed truck GPS data to measure freight mobility across the United States. Its annual Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks report has become one of the most important indicators of systemic highway congestion and its impact on supply chain performance.
The 2026 findings reinforce a hard truth for supply chain leaders:
Highway congestion remains one of the most persistent structural risks in freight transportation.
And while many organizations focus on optimizing over-the-road strategies, the execution layer closest to these chokepoints, the yard, is often overlooked.
Let’s break down the key findings and what they signal for enterprise operators.
According to ATRI’s 2026 analysis:
These figures underscore the scale of the issue. When trucks are averaging 33.2 mph during peak hours at critical freight nodes, delays are not isolated incidents. They are structural constraints embedded in the network.
The highest-ranked bottlenecks this year include:
Notably:
These are not random corridors. They are high-density freight hubs connected to major ports, distribution centers, manufacturing clusters, and retail networks.
For enterprise shippers operating multi-site networks, these chokepoints are daily operational variables, not theoretical risks.
ATRI’s methodology synthesizes massive truck GPS datasets with speed and volume algorithms to quantify congestion impacts at freight-significant locations.
The takeaway is not just that congestion exists.
It is that congestion is measurable, persistent, and geographically concentrated.
That concentration creates:
Highway congestion amplifies every upstream and downstream execution weakness.
Which leads to the critical question.
If the road network is constrained, how resilient is your execution layer once freight reaches the gate?
When trucks move at 33 mph through peak freight corridors, yards become pressure points.
In many networks, yard operations were never engineered to absorb external volatility at this scale.
This is where enterprise discipline matters.
ATRI’s data shows congestion patterns that are unlikely to disappear overnight. Infrastructure investment takes time. Legislative reauthorization cycles are long. Freight demand remains strong.
Shippers cannot wait for highways to fix themselves. They must build operational control closer to home.
For supply chain and logistics executives, the implications are clear:
The yard is the interface between highway volatility and facility performance.
If it operates reactively, congestion multiplies cost and service instability.
If it operates under governance, standardization, and engineered throughput models, it becomes a buffer and control point.
ATRI’s 2026 Top Truck Bottlenecks report does not rank intersections alone.
It provides a roadmap for where freight friction is concentrated across the United States.
Enterprise shippers that treat these findings as a transportation-only issue are missing the broader execution story.
Congestion is a given. Variability is measurable. Network pressure is persistent.
The differentiator is not whether congestion exists.
The differentiator is how well your operating model absorbs it.
In 2026, resilience will not come from adding more tools. It will come from effective governance at every layer of the network, including yard operations. And in an environment where freight mobility averages 33.2 mph at peak choke points, that discipline is no longer optional.