Traffic jams are incredibly irritating for many Americans. As long as we have driven cars, it seems as though we have all been driving to the same place at the same time. This leads to traffic congestion and stress for many drivers. All of this traffic has a significant impact on the commercial trucking industry. So how does traffic congestion affect commercial trucking?

Increased Cost of Congestion

Traffic congestion in urban areas has impacted the commercial trucking industry in several ways. Overall, the traffic congestion has added over $60 billion in operating costs to the commercial trucking industry, as of 2015. This is an increase from $49.6 billion in 2014.

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Congestion has had more than just a financial impact though. 2015 saw driver’s experience delays of over 996 million hours, an increase of over 200 million hours from 2014.

Over 90 percent of traffic congestion takes place in urban areas. Increases are also focused around larger metropolitan areas. Driving this rise in urban traffic is the increase in e-commerce in recent years. More people ordering items online leads to more delivery trucks on the road.

The increase in trucking costs caused by congestion will eventually lead to an increase in the prices of consumer goods.

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Allstate Peterbilt Group offers our customers many new and pre-owned commercial truck models. We have locations in multiple states throughout the Midwest, enabling us to serve a wide area. You can find your nearest Allstate Peterbilt Group location right here on our website, and take a look at our inventory to learn more about everything we have to offer.