Oregon Freight Plan Update – Study Found 66 Bottleneck Area Statewide

Bottleneck identification is of national concern. According to Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), MAP-21 and more recently, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) ACT identified the importance of identifying and addressing bottlenecks on the freight system.

Congestion from bottlenecks was identified as a major issue, impairing Oregon’s economy with variations in travel time reliability and rising travel costs.

ODOT has completed a study to identify truck delay areas throughout the state. The study used complex data criteria plus human eye witness criteria to determine, measure, and rank bottleneck areas by an annual truck transportation cost per mile.

The project then prioritized the areas into 3 tiers based on the delay cost factor. The study found that there were 66 bottleneck areas identified statewide.

Tier 1 areas represent the most costly delays. All 16 identified Tier 1 bottleneck areas can be found in the I-5 corridor from the Interstate Bridge to the OR217 and I-5 interchange.

The average annual truck cost in these 16 bottleneck sections was calculated at $2,920 per mile. The completed study will be used to prioritize infrastructure improvements projects to relieve the bottlenecks and reduce delay costs.

For more information and to see the complete list of identified bottlenecks plus a map representation, go to https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/TD/TP/Pages/FreightHighwayBottlenecks.aspx.