"Heavy Traffic" is considered to be Bakshi's biggest critical success. "Newsweek" wrote that the film contained 'black humor, powerful grotesquerie and peculiar raw beauty. Episodes of violence and sexuality are both explicit and parodies of flesh-and-blood porn ... a celebration of urban decay'. Roger Greenspun, of "The New York Times", wrote in his 1973 review: 'People who felt that his earlier feature, "Fritz the Cat", merely debased a cherished original, can now judge Bakshi's development of his own material. I think that development is as brilliant as anything in recent movies — as brilliant and, in its own improbable way, as lovely and as sad.' Charles Champlin wrote in the "Los Angeles Times" that the film was 'a further leaping step forward for American animation; at that, "Heavy Traffic" is, in its furious energy, uncomfortable to watch as often as it is hilarious'. Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film three stars out of four, and wrote that 'by mixing live-action and animation, Bakshi generates a willingness in us to be moved in some 'aw, shucks' ways that are corny, but feel good'. "The Hollywood Reporter" called it 'shocking, outrageous, offensive, sometimes incoherent, occasionally unintelligent; however, it is also an authentic work of movie art and Bakshi is certainly the most creative American animator since Disney'. Vincent Canby ranked it among his "Ten Best Films of 1973". Gary Arnold, of "The Washington Post", was negative, calling the film 'ostentatiously ugly' with 'nothing pleasurable or liberating in [Bakshi's] style of mockery'. The film holds a score of 89% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 18 reviews.