Is Fresno Traffic Getting Worse?

In 2026, weekday freeway congestion in Fresno was 15% better than in 2025 and 85% worse than in 2016, measured as hours lost in stop-and-go traffic per 1,000 miles driven. Traffic volume per sensor was about the same as in 2025.

Year by year (weekdays)

Year	Delay per 1,000 vehicle-miles	Change	Vehicles per sensor per day	Average speed	5 pm speed	Sensors
2016 (partial)	0.06 h	–	40,884	63 mph	60 mph	223
2017	0.06 h	-8%	41,427	63 mph	61 mph	230
2018	0.07 h	+15%	42,461	63 mph	61 mph	251
2019	0.08 h	+20%	43,534	63 mph	61 mph	258
2020	0.04 h	-48%	38,586	63 mph	63 mph	262
2021	0.09 h	+120%	42,330	63 mph	61 mph	266
2022	0.09 h	-5%	43,642	62 mph	61 mph	268
2023	0.11 h	+26%	43,793	62 mph	60 mph	270
2024	0.14 h	+29%	44,902	62 mph	60 mph	270
2025	0.14 h	-3%	45,842	62 mph	60 mph	266
2026	0.11 h	-15%	46,637	62 mph	60 mph	275

Month by month

Weekday delay per 1,000 vehicle-miles in Fresno, by month (hours)

Freeway by freeway, 2016 vs 2026

Freeway	2016	2026	Change
SR-41 North	0.11 h	0.14 h	+20%
SR-41 South	0.09 h	0.20 h	+122%
SR-99 North	0.04 h	0.16 h	+322%
SR-99 South	0.11 h	0.13 h	+20%
SR-168 East	0.00 h	0.00 h	–
SR-168 West	0.00 h	0.01 h	–
SR-180 East	0.01 h	0.00 h	–
SR-180 West	0.04 h	0.01 h	-86%

Weekday delay per 1,000 vehicle-miles on each freeway direction within Fresno.

How this is measured

Every hour, road sensors report how many vehicles passed and how fast they went. For each sensor we multiply the vehicles by the length of freeway it covers to get vehicle-miles, and count the extra time spent below 35 mph as delay. Dividing delay by miles driven gives a congestion measure that doesn't change just because sensors are added or retired. Only weekdays with at least 20 hours of data are used. Data: Caltrans PeMS.

See also: how rain slows Fresno traffic, by time of day and how hard it rains.