Disclosed herein are methods and systems for managing usage of traffic-channel resources in an access network, which are preferably resources that are reserved during a traffic channel assignment (TCA) process. An exemplary method comprises (i) a base station determining a usage level of at least one traffic-channel resource in a coverage area of the access network; (ii) based at least in part on the determined usage level, updating one or more TCA parameters affecting expected usage of the traffic-channel resource resulting from the TCA process; and (iii) performing the TCA process according to the updated TCA parameters. Preferably the usage level is determined for Medium Access Control Identifiers (MAC_IDs). Further, the access-channel occupancy (ACO) may be determined and the base station may further base the updating of TCA parameters on the ACO. In an exemplary embodiment, the updated TCA parameters include the TCA count and/or the TCC wait timer.