Bombus spp. (Bumble bees) face population declines, in part due to habitat loss. Roadside rights-of-way (ROWs) are potential habitats; however, they are highly disturbed due to roadside mowing and on-road traffic. We investigated whether these factors are associated with variation in abundance of bumble bees in highway roadside ROWs across New York State. We used sweep netting and photography along 30 highways with different mowing pattern (control, reduced) and traffic level (low, medium, high) treatments in 2019 and 2020. Very few bumble bees were observed (98% of n = 916 observations found 0). This result was potentially due to insufficient foraging plants or nesting areas. Further investigation is needed to understand how highway roadside ROWs can be high quality habitat for bumble bees.