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I-93 near Boston responsible for two of the worst traffic bottlenecks nationwide

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) – It’s one of the busiest travel weeks of the year when more than 42 million Americans are expected to hit the roads for the Thanksgiving holiday.

But right here in Boston a new study shows one highway that will have some of the biggest traffic jams in the country.

Those bottlenecks aren't just a problem for the holidays, two sections of I-93 rank as the worst for traffic day in and day out according to the study among the nation's most overcrowded.

You don't need a scientific study to know traffic gets bad on along I-93 in Boston.

The stretch of 93 near the Zakim Bridge and another chunk of highway just before Route 3 both are among the 30 worst bottlenecks in the nation ranked by the American Highway Users Alliance. Drivers are stuck in traffic here for more than 2.1 million hours a year.

“Those 30 choke points force drivers to lose 91 million hours at an estimated value of $31-billion,” Greg Cohen from AHUA said.

The study’s authors emphasize these problems are not unfixable.

As an example they point to the Wilson Bridge in Washington D.C. where until a new bridge was built the section of highway was one of the biggest bottlenecks on the entire East Coast

US Secretary of Transportation Anthony Fox said the start of a solution could be close in Congress, where House and Senate negotiators are hammering out a deal on the first long term highway funding bill in more than a decade.

“The reality is that hand wringing isn’t going to solve this problem. The reality is we can’t use yesterday’s funding models to solve today’s challenges,” Fox said.

Congress has a Dec. 4 deadline for an agreement on the highway bill, which Fox said would be an early Christmas present for drivers.