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It’s no secret that sitting in traffic is frustrating, but what does it mean in terms of dollars and cents? For the Knoxville area, it means $926 in financial loss per commuter per year according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s (TTI): Urban Mobility Report 2023.
The TTI report, which encapsulates 2022 data and is the most current analysis available, indicates that Knoxvillians annually spend approximately 17 million hours (or 43 hours per commuter) in traffic, which equates to $422 million in congestion costs for the region. Unsurprisingly, traffic is at its worst on weekdays between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. but will also spike beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. Interestingly, the highest peak congestion locally occurred on surface streets versus the interstates.
In relation to its peers in terms of congestion cost per commuter, Knoxville was tied with Memphis for the second-worst financial loss with Nashville being the worst and Huntsville being the best. It’s important to note that while Memphis and Knoxville are tied, truck traffic made up 23 percent of the annual delay in Memphis and 55 percent of its total congestion costs, while the totals for Knoxville were only 5 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
The chart below shows the comparison between the Knoxville area and its peers.