Metropolitan Atlanta's infamous intersection known to locals as "Spaghetti Junction" has been named the nation's most congested truck interchange for 2016, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry's nonprofit research group, said today.
This marks the second consecutive year that Spaghetti Junction, officially known as the "Tom Moreland Interchange" after Georgia's transportation commissioner from 1975 to 1987, has captured the dubious honor. The stretch sits at the confluence of Interstates 85 and 285—the latter being metro Atlanta's perimeter—and also provides ramp access to four secondary roadways. It is a five-level stack interchange that is a well-known nightmare for truckers and motorists alike, especially starting at around 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, when big rigs begin to roll.
The next five were Interstate 95 and State Route 4 in New Jersey approaching the George Washington Bridge heading into New York; Interstates 90, 94, and 290 in Chicago; Interstates 64, 65, and 71 in Louisville, Ky.; Interstates 71 and 75 in Cincinnati; and State Routes 57 and 60 in Los Angeles. Another Atlanta chokepoint, Interstates 85 and 285, made the top ten, finishing ninth.
The ATRI list assesses truck congestion levels at 250 locations on the national highway system. The analysis is based on GPS data culled from the operations of more than 600,000 heavy-duty trucks.
ATRI estimates that road congestion on the 161,000-mile National Highway System, which includes the 44,000-mile Interstate Highway System, cost the trucking industry $49.6 billion in 2014, the last year that full-year numbers were available. Congestion resulted in 728 million hours of lost driver productivity, equal to 264,500 commercial drivers sitting idle for one year, ATRI said.
About 18 percent of the national system accounts for 88 percent of the congestion, ATRI said, adding that efforts to reduce or eliminate the major bottlenecks could go a long way toward solving the congestion problem.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA), which represents the nation's large truck fleets, has assembled a task force comprised of 11 CEOs to lobby Congress and the Trump administration for sufficient funding for infrastructure improvements. The task force said it supports an increase in the federal motor fuels tax indexed for inflation, a "barrel tax" on oil, and the elimination of federal fuel tax exemptions. It opposes tolling existing interstate highways, weight distance fees where levies are imposed on trucks running through states, and increases in the "heavy vehicle use tax," among others.
ATA has long supported a hike in the federal tax on diesel and gasoline consumption, saying it is the most efficient funding mechanism because it is relatively inexpensive to administer and revenue is captured at the moment the commodity is purchased. However, the group has effectively written off any increase during 2017, noting the Trump administration's stern opposition to any tax increases. Federal taxes on fuels have not been raised since 1993.
The Trump administration has proposed between $1 trillion and $1.3 trillion in infrastructure improvements. Late yesterday, Senate Democrats unveiled a 10-year, $1 trillion infrastructure spending plan that include allocations of $100 billion for roads and bridges, $50 billion for freight rail and Amtrak, and $65 billion to improve airports, seaports, and inland waterways.
To fund part of the work, Democrats proposed to create an entity similar to a "national infrastructure bank" that would unlock pools of capital to provide low-cost loans or loan guarantees. Providing the fund with $10 billion in seed money could leverage over $100 billion in private investment over 10 years, according to the proposal.
Walter Kemmsies, managing director, economist, and chief strategist of the ports practice for Chicago-based real estate and logistics services giant JLL Inc., told the SMC3 annual winter meeting in Atlanta today that infrastructure investment must be focused on supporting U.S. export traffic by making it faster and more efficient to get high-value goods from inland points to sea and air gateways. Unlike once-small nations that have grown targeting exports in their infrastructure investments, the U.S. has earmarked spending to facilitate the flow of import traffic, Kemmsies said.
Kemmsies also said U.S. road improvement projects must be brought into the 21st century by incorporating high-tech instruments, such as tracking sensors that enable officials to better analyze traffic data, into the construction process. "We are the only country in the world that replaces roads with the same type of roads we built 50 years ago," he said.
Late today, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) issued a statement saying it was encouraged by the Democrats plan, adding that freight connections to and from U.S. ports are "falling behind" 21st century commerce needs.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.