Bay Area roads among most congested in Texas

According to December data from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, several Bay Area roads rank among the most congested in Texas, and many are worsening.

Hwy. 146 from Red Bluff Road to League City Parkway ranked as the 117th most-congested road in Texas in 2019. According to preliminary 2020 data, it is now No. 100. I-45 between NASA Parkway and FM 517 ranked at No. 365 in 2019 and is now No. 154.

Other Bay Area roads near the top 500 most-congested roads include parts of Bay Area Boulevard, League City Parkway and NASA Parkway.

The TTI uses speed data and traffic volume information to calculate the total delay hours on each road. The report also includes a “cost of congestion” for each road, which looks at the loss of productivity and fuel as drivers wait in traffic, Senior Research Engineer Tim Lomax said.

For instance, the annual hours of delay total 680,826 for Hwy. 146 and 726,803 for I-45. The annual congestion cost is $14.8 million for Hwy. 146 and $15 million for I-45.

Several roads that ranked among the most congested in the Bay Area are undergoing improvements. Hwy. 146 is being widened, and I-45 has been under a widening project for years.

Lomax said there has been a noted decrease in traffic patterns due to the pandemic. However, it is too early to tell if those changes will remain.

“I tend to think we’re going to go back to something closer to the old normal,” he said.