CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Texas' 100 Most Congested Roadways is a tracking system setup by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI).
It’s been used since 2010 to show where some of the state's busiest roads are located.
Corpus Christi has two streets on the list: Airline Road, between Ocean Drive and Rodd Field Road, and S. Staples Street, between SPID and Yorktown Boulevard.
S. Staples Street is ranked 35. Airline Road is No. 82.
”Lists like Texas 100 makes sure that streets like Staples don’t fall through the cracks, and that somebody somewhere is paying attention to it and knows, that 'Hey there’s congestion here,' ” said Texas A&M Transportation Institute Sr. Research Scientist David Schrank.
The top 100 list is in the spotlight now because it was highlighted in the governor’s announcement of the record $142 million investment the state is making into the transportation infrastructure.
Statistics show that the annual wait times on S. Staples Street alone amount to a total of more than 230,000 hours. The estimated cost -- delay and fuel -- of that is nearly $19 million in a year.
See how the TTI arrived at their numbers here.
”It is the things Staples has: residential, mixed with all kinds of retail and commercial activities, and that creates the problems," Schrank said. "Who gets the signal?”
With Corpus Christi having two streets on the top 100 list, the city could possibly be seeing state funding to ease congestion on S. Staples Street and Airline Road.
"We’ll have to sit down with the state and will have to do the engineering and the planning and look and see what will help on Staples and Airline and move forward with that," said Corpus Christi City Councilman Mike Pusley.
Pusley also said the City’s Public Works Director is looking at expanding its ablility to move heavy traffic through the use of an updated and expanded computer and camera system.