U.S. traffic 'back with a vengeance,' transportation official says in Chattanooga

Aug. 11—A focus on U.S. infrastructure by lawmakers is "encouraging" as traffic on the highways has come back strong from the pandemic, the head of a transportation research group said in Chattanooga on Tuesday.

"Congestion is not only back but back with a vengeance post-COVID," said Rebecca Brewster, president and chief operating officer of the American Transportation Research Institute.

Brewster said the nation's highways are the workplace of truck drivers and motor carriers which are transporting goods to Americans, including through the Chattanooga area which is dubbed "freight alley" due to its concentration of trucking-related businesses.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed a sweeping $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The legislation to rebuild roads, bridges and other physical infrastructure across the country is now headed to the House.

Brewster said Chattanooga has two of the worst 100 traffic bottlenecks in America — at Interstate 75 and Interstate 24 (No. 7) and I-24 and U.S. 27 (No. 53), according to ATRI's latest research.

Tennessee and Georgia combine for 13 of the nation's worst 100 bottlenecks, Brewster said to a group of transportation and public officials at a Thrive Regional Partnership event.

She said the issue of truck parking has emerged as the worst problem for truck drivers in America.

Federal legislation requires that a driver stop for a 10-hour break following 11 hours of drive time. Due to limited availability of truck parking areas, drivers are stopping along interstate ramps, shoulders and other undesignated sites.

Bridgett Massingill, Thrive's chief executive and president, said there is no public truck parking stop on busy I-75 between Chattanooga and Cartersville, Georgia, just outside Atlanta.

The lack of truck parking is "effecting the supply chain," she said. "It's the white elephant sitting in the room."

Brewster said a lack of truck parking is costing drivers' nearly one hour of lost productivity daily, noting many will pull over before their drive time is complete because they're unsure if another spot is available later. That amounts to about $4,600 annually for drivers, she said.

Also, research has shown that drivers call truck parking the most stressful part of the job, Brewster said.

She said truck parking often pits drivers against law enforcement officers, who are enforcing time limits at such spots.

Brewster said building new truck parking capacity and increasing vehicle park times at public rest areas are among the solutions. She said she's hopeful the new infrastructure bill will address truck parking issues.

Connie Vaughan, a McKee Foods executive who is chairwoman of Thrive, said people ask her why she's involved in the non-profit organization, and her answer is to help ensure the workforce in the region.

According to Thrive, one in eight people in the region work in the transportation sector.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.