Can the Valley’s highway infrastructure keep up as development surges?

Growing congestion on Arizona’s highways is costing John Bauermeister — and his customers — lots of money in lost time.

The president of Phoenix-based Freeport Logistics Inc., the largest third-party logistics firm in the state, said the company recently increased its rates by 30% to compensate for more traffic on major highways — primarily on Interstate 10.

The company dispatches about 10 trucks carrying raw materials a day along I-10 and typically saw travel times from Phoenix to Gila Bend at 90 minutes. That was until two years ago when Bauermeister said the travel time doubled.

The issue, Bauermeister said, is the route’s lack of driving lanes.

“It bottlenecks down to one lane at one point on I-10, and it’s costing me thousands,” Bauermeister said. “We used to have a profitable run where we’d make pretty good money going down to one of our customers in Gila Bend. Now it’s at break-even for us.”

This story is posted in partnership with Phoenix Business Journal. Click to read the full story.