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Some of Houston's major highways aren't too friendly to trucks.
In fact, the city has one of the nation’s most congested bottlenecks. The trucking industry says it's affecting the shipping of goods to Texas ports.
According to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), Interstate 45 at Interstate 69 in Houston is the third most congested truck bottleneck in the United States. On the institute's 2025 Top Truck Bottleneck List, 12 Texas locations crack the top 100 including eight in the Houston metropolitan area.
KTRH Traffic's Sky Mike Valdez said trucks are consistently having trouble in Houston, especially downtown.
"Downtown, I call that the suicide squeeze," he said. "They seem to have a lot of problems there."
Statewide, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) said I-45 was among Texas’ 100 most congested road segments in 2024. I-45 has several construction projects in the works too to help alleviate congestion for commuters and truck drivers.
"The one that I really dread is I-45 when they redo this downtown and make the merge with I-69 because that's not going to just affect traffic but also business, commerce and even housing," Valdez said.
With the state's Gulf ports and growing population, more freight trucks are working their way through Texas highways and through Houston. However, bottlenecks are getting worse in multiple areas of the city.
"Trucks are the life blood of American commerce but there are problems on the Pierce Elevated and you've got all of these freeways merging," said Valdez. "One of the worst intersections in America is the Southwest Freeway-West Loop 610 exchange."
Here’s where Houston highways rank on ATRI's 2025 Top Truck Bottleneck List:
No. 3: I-45 at I-69/US 59
No. 9: I-10 at I-45
No. 22: I-45 at I-610 (North)
No. 30: I-10 at I-610 (West)
No. 57: I-610 at US 290
No. 61: I-610 (East)
No. 76: I-45 at Sam Houston Tollway (North)
No. 85: I-10 at I-69/US 59
The Texas Clear Lanes initiative announced by TxDOT is a way state officials are trying to work on the gridlock on Texas highways.