Texas “Top 100” Congested Road Segments

In response to increased roadway congestion throughout Texas, since 2009 the Texas Legislature has mandated that TxDOT annually produce a ranked list of the 100 most congested road segments in the state.  Person-hours of delay per mile and truck delay per mile are used as the primary performance measures for the rankings.  Additional information included in Top 100 reporting is the economic value of delay for each segment.

The Top 100 is developed in partnership with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.  The Top 100 ranking is used as part of TxDOT’s statewide project selection and scoring analysis to help determine a project’s need as it relates to congestion.  The Texas Clear Lanes Initiative is focused on identifying, funding, and building projects that address the Top 100 in five major metro areas: Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio.

Come explore the Top 100

• Top 100 Complete Statewide List
  
• Top 100 Locations Viewer
• Top 100 Methodology
• Executive Summary
• 2023 Press Release

The analysis approach incorporates traffic volume and speed data from the previous calendar year.  In most years, sections of roads near the top of the list (top 25) tend to stay at the top of the list because congestion in these areas is intense, and occurs during many hours each weekday, and during some hours of the weekend.  Congested road segments outside the top 25 tend to have congestion in one direction in the weekday morning and the other direction in the evening.  Congested road segments in the bottom half of the list may move in and out of the Top 100 because congestion changes on these roadways are often caused by the nearby office, retail, or commercial developments and road construction on the corridor itself or on a nearby parallel or intersecting facility. 

The traffic and road data come from TxDOT’s Roadway Inventory Files (RIF)database, which includes roadway inventory information including traffic volumes, truck volumes, and the number of lanes.  The speed data for the 2022 list was obtained from INRIX, a private sector company providing travel information data from a variety of sources.