America's Worst Traffic

[poofyhairguy]

Wait, where are the Texas options? We make the top 10!

 

[dank69]

Meh, Danbury gets worse. Danbury's high growth rates in the last decade and more people work in NYC, Wetchester, etc. I was driving from NY to Hartford, and Danbury was backed up between exits 2-7 at 3:30PM and 8-11 at 4:00PM. Never driven it at 5:00PM, but I have a feeling it all creates one big giant backup.

All I know is that the Mix Master is always a clusterfuck.

 

[saratoga172]

From a traffic standpoint Houston is one of the worst I've been in. The 635 construction in Dallas is pretty bad but as they open it up it'll be much better.

While traffic wasn't terrible per se in Oklahoma City the drivers there are just absolute idiots. I'm talking doing 55 in the left lane of the highway when they can easily get over. Pulling out into oncoming traffic, cutting you off etc. Just awful drivers and makes for some unnecessary traffic. Much smaller area though so the delays are no where near as bad as big cities that just plain have lots of people.

 

[dank69]

Also, Boston tunnel to Logan should be on here way ahead of the CT option.

 

[glenn1]

I-405 - SoCAL is the consistently worst all day long and is never clear running unless you're on it at the very dead of night. I-95/NOVA might be worse at peak rush hour due to sheer congestion and weekend/beach traffic can back things up basically to Fredericksburg. It's still better now that they've "fixed" the Mixing Bowl. I-76 in Philly only truly sucks because of the Conshocken Curve. I don't think the Dan Ryan should even be on this list.

 

[Crotulus]

Not related to traffic, but something I never got about the 405 was why it was made in such a way that driving along it made me feel like my wheels were square.

LOL, thunk thunk thunk thunk.

I always feel like I have a flat when driving around LA.

 

[ultimatebob]

Route 8 isn't so bad, almost all of that entire road from Bridgeport to the Massachusetts line is glorious. The only bad stretch is the Commodore Hull bridge in Derby and you can take comfort from knowing that once you get through the rest is smooth sailing.

Route 8 seems to be getting progressively worse, though. Today, 8 South was backed up from Exit 25 to Derby, which is a good 10 miles of traffic moving at 5 miles an hour.

 

[ElFenix]

None of them can come close to the traffic you would experience as a Chinese driver.

chop

 

[Phoenix86]

I-35 in Houston says howdy.

 

[thebestMAX]

No dIe-95 Miami option? I cry when I have to drive it and Ive driven every road on the poll.

 

[NewYorksFinest]

Here is the top 10 list:

1. Cross Bronx Expressway I-95
2. I-95 Northern Virginia
3. I-405 California
4. I-495 LIE
5. Van Wyck Expressway I-678
6. The 101 Hollywood
7. I-95 Stamford-Bridgeport
8. I-5 Orange County
9. Dan Ryan Chicago
10. Downtown Connector

Miami I-95 and Philadelphia scored at #22 & 23 while I-84 West Hartford-Hartford scored #21.

 

[dank69]

Yup LIE is a pain in the ass as well.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Yup LIE is a pain in the ass as well.

Oh god, the LIE. The CBE is bad, but I don't understand how a 5 lane highway could be that packed ALL THE TIME.

Where the hell are people going at 2pm on a thursday that there are that many cars on the road?

 

[z1ggy]

I drove the #7 yesterday and I drive it about 1-2 times a month on my way to NJ/NYC. It sucks giant, giant taint. Some asshat rear ended a guy yesterday so there was only 2 lanes open for a few miles.

Think I moved a few miles in like 20 mins? Overall the trip wasn't too bad though.. Took me about 3.5 hours to get to Staten Island from south eastern CT.

 

[MBentz]

From my experience, I-95 through NoVA makes my want to start using my car as a battering ram.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I think the worst single intersection/bottleneck may just be in Chicago where 290 hits 90/94.

That said, I suspect that as a whole, other routes may be worse due to a large number of bad bottlenecks rather than "the worst bottleneck + other less significant bottlenecks"

 

[roguerower]

I-95 in NOVA is a hugely miserable place to find yourself. You're basically guaranteed 15-30 miles of non-stop traffic during rush hour depending on where you get on. That and you will randomly hit traffic that has no originating factor.

 

[glenn1]

I just looked and at 2:30pm local time Google maps shows the traffic on I-95 through NoVA into DC is backed up to Fredericksburg (53 miles from downtown DC) with the exception of a brief 3-4 mile respite from Woodbridge to Lorton.

 

[smackababy]

I think the worst single intersection/bottleneck may just be in Chicago where 290 hits 90/94.

That said, I suspect that as a whole, other routes may be worse due to a large number of bad bottlenecks rather than "the worst bottleneck + other less significant bottlenecks"

I do agree that is a pretty terrible bottleneck, but the Dan Ryan isn't that bad. I don't go down that way often, but every time it isn't too terrible.

As far as an entire city itself, Austin is probably the worst I've seen. It is just horribly designed and Loop 1 (which isn't a loop, btw) is terrible. People also suffer from 'up hill syndrome' or some garbage. Since the majority of the road is going uphill, they believe it will go over the crest and require them to brake. However, this never happens in Austin. Despite driving this route every day, the morons continue to do this anyway and it results in incredibly backed up traffic for zero reason.

 

[Midwayman]

I do agree that is a pretty terrible bottleneck, but the Dan Ryan isn't that bad. I don't go down that way often, but every time it isn't too terrible.

I see the Dan Ryan moving more than the Kennedy every single day. Chicago as a whole has a ton of 'WTF where they thinking?' junctions though.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Though 101 in Hollywood is terrible and I hate having to use it, I-35 in Austin is still the worst I've ever seen.

 

[ElFenix]

I-35 in Houston says howdy.

pretty tough to drive on i-35 in houston, i agree.

 

[Phoenix86]

pretty tough to drive on i-35 in houston, i agree.

Yes, extremely difficult.

*I-45

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Cross Bronx actually had me fearing for my life. Never experienced the LA traffic scene, I've driven through DC, that did indeed suck, but I wasn't nearly as literally scared as I was on the CBE.
And for the record, Boston has some pretty craptacular traffic as well. Drunk cow paths paved into highways

 

[xanis]

I voted for I-76 Philadelphia.

Horrible horrible traffic.

+1. I've been taking it every day to work and I've been spending an average of 1 hour each way. Tomorrow is the first day back after my move and I'll be at a nice, short 15 minutes.