50 Worst Traffic Bottlenecks In America

[swbrotha100]

The American Highway Users Alliance released a study today of the worst bottlenecks in America. They were measured by hours of delay. Link to the study is below:

http://www.highways.org/2015/11/unclogging-study2015/

[The Nature Boy]

Not at all surprised to see two sections of I-93 in the Boston metro area on that list.

[Rothman]

Wait, they didn't think it was I-290/I-90 in Williamsville, NY like Cambridge Systematics did some years ago? 

[Henry]

No surprise there: Los Angeles has six of the seven worst bottlenecks in America, none of which can top the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago. And I-5 through downtown Seattle ranked 17th on that list.

[roadman]

Not at all surprised to see two sections of I-93 in the Boston metro area on that list.

Except that one of those sections of I-93 was recently reconstructed as part of a $20 billion project.  Doesn't exactly speak well for the project as a whole, if you ask me.

[Rothman]

Not at all surprised to see two sections of I-93 in the Boston metro area on that list.

Except that one of those sections of I-93 was recently reconstructed as part of a $20 billion project.  Doesn't exactly speak well for the project as a whole, if you ask me.

Pfft.  The point was to get that mess underground rather than continue to have eyesore of the Central Artery above ground.

Still, even if it's considered bad now, my experience with it is that it's better than the Central Artery was, traffic-wise.

[kkt]

I see there's two stretches in Nevada on the list of other trouble spots.  I'm shocked, shocked, that neither of them is in Tonopah.

[Thing 342]

Somewhat surprised that none of the tunnels in the Hampton Roads areas made the list.

[Bruce]

The Seattle segment could be extended north across the Ship Canal Bridge on most days. I usually get off the bus at NE 45th and walk over to an Eastlake-bound bus to avoid that crawl.

[roadfro]

I see there's two stretches in Nevada on the list of other trouble spots.  I'm shocked, shocked, that neither of them is in Tonopah.

They used weird cutoff points for those Nevada locations:

*I-15 from Oakey (not "Oakley") Blvd to exit 41. Oakey is an overpass and not an interchange. Exit 41 is Charleston Blvd. This stretch will be alleviated eventually with Project Neon.

*US 95 from Clarkway Drive to I-15. I had to look up where Clarkway was, and it's a very minor street just north of the freeway between Rancho Dr and the Martin Luther King Blvd interchanges. Not sure why that brief stretch is on there, but it does incorporate some of the transition to I-15.

[OCGuy81]

I'm really surprised that the 91 freeway didn't make the list.  The "Corona Crawl" is awful most hours of the day.

[mcarling]

I'm surprised that I-5 through Portland and across the Colombia River didn't make the list.

[thefraze_1020]

If there is only one entry for Seattle (or all of Washington state) on that list, then I think Washington state is doing all right.

As for Los Angeles, well...

[Bickendan]

I'm surprised that I-5 through Portland and across the Colombia River didn't make the list.

Or I-84 between I-5 and I-205...
An aside, I-84's lack of westbound exits in the Metro area make for miserable drives when someone decides to be an idiot and cause a crash between NE 43rd and I-205.

[silverback1065]

Not at all surprised to see two sections of I-93 in the Boston metro area on that list.

Except that one of those sections of I-93 was recently reconstructed as part of a $20 billion project.  Doesn't exactly speak well for the project as a whole, if you ask me.

Pfft.  The point was to get that mess underground rather than continue to have eyesore of the Central Artery above ground.

Still, even if it's considered bad now, my experience with it is that it's better than the Central Artery was, traffic-wise.

I agree, I thought that was the only purpose

[jeffandnicole]

I always felt 295 in South Jersey gets unfairly excluded from these lists.  Even the Philly area doesn't give it the respect it deserves, probably because it doesn't feed directly into Philly.  But when a backup stretches about 14 miles on a daily basis (Rt. 38 to Rt. 42), it's a significant point of congestion.

[hm insulators]

Surprise, surprise, Los Angeles got 11 of the Top 30.

[noelbotevera]

Surekill Expressway anyone?

[odditude]

Surekill Expressway anyone?

it's #36 on the list.

[cpzilliacus]

[Bumping this thread with a new story just out on the same topic]

Washington Post: The 100 worst traffic bottlenecks on U.S. highways

You know it when you see it: that piece of highway where everything slows to a crawl for no apparent reason, where it's stop-and-go for miles but no crash in sight.

There are many reasons that traffic just won't flow, and technology may provide some insight as to why. Using GPS, the trucking industry has identified the 100 worst bottlenecks in the U.S. highway system.

For those prone to complain about turgid traffic in the mightily congested urban sprawl that extends from Washington north past Boston, there is news that no resident will believe.

Their home turf is home to just one of the county's top 30 worst traffic choke points.

A bunch of the rest are in places that true traffic jam aficionados in the northeast sniff at in disdain: Baton Rouge; Tacoma, Wash.; Nashville; and Seattle.

[PHLBOS]

Not at all surprised to see two sections of I-93 in the Boston metro area on that list.

Except that one of those sections of I-93 was recently reconstructed as part of a $20 billion project.  Doesn't exactly speak well for the project as a whole, if you ask me.

Pfft.  The point was to get that mess underground rather than continue to have eyesore of the Central Artery above ground.

Still, even if it's considered bad now, my experience with it is that it's better than the Central Artery was, traffic-wise.

That's only because of the extension of I-90 via the Ted Williams Tunnel to Logan Airport was included in the Big Dig as well.  Such diverted a portion of coastal traffic (to/from points south & west) off I-93 though such has since created traffic havoc along MA 1A north of the airport.  The then-Third-Harbor Tunnel was originally planned (circa 1969) to include an expressway north of the airport that would've connected to (unbuilt) I-95 just north of Copeland/Cutler Circle.

Nonetheless, the public was somewhat (mis)led to believe that the underground I-93 mainline corridor was to be 8 to 10 lanes wide throughout not just in key areas.  Much of the mainline tunnel is still only 6-lanes wide.

[cpzilliacus]

Nonetheless, the public was somewhat (mis)led to believe that the underground I-93 mainline corridor was to be 8 to 10 lanes wide throughout not just in key areas.  Much of the mainline tunnel is still only 6-lanes wide.

IMO the entire Big Dig should have had (or be retrofitted now) as a variable-priced toll road. 

I understand and accept that when the Big Dig was being planned, E-ZPass and video tolling was not really on the horizon. 

But now with Massachusetts going with cashless tolling on the MassPike, Tobin Bridge and others, it should be fairly easy to toll the Big Dig.

Yes, it's easy  for me to write that, as I live many hundreds of miles south of Boston, and am an infrequent user of the highways of Massachusetts.

[Rothman]

I would think that would be difficult given PA's problems getting I-80 tolled.  I would think MA would run into the same regulations if they wanted to toll I-93.

[PHLBOS]

IMO the entire Big Dig should have had (or be retrofitted now) as a variable-priced toll road.

I mentioned similar before and I'll mention it here (modified in the wake of 2-way AETs being established on all harbor crossings):

Place two AET gantries along I-93: one north of the Zakim Bridge and the other south of the I-90 interchange; and charge the same fixed toll rate (sorry, I'm not completely sold on variable-priced tolling) as the harbor crossings and the Allston tolls.  That way everybody outside of immediate local traffic heading to/from Downtown Boston gets tolled in a fair manner.

I would think that would be difficult given PA's problems getting I-80 tolled.  I would think MA would run into the same regulations if they wanted to toll I-93.

PA's biggest problem was that the planned tolls for I-80 were going to be diverted a-la-Act 44 in the same manner that the PA Turnpike tolls were.  Thankfully, the Feds (under 2 different Presidential administrations I might add) saw the proposal for the Robbing Peter to Pay Paul it was and shot it down... more than once.

[jeffandnicole]

Looking at the graphs for the areas I'm familiar with in the Philly area, while I believe the rush hour congestion speeds, the non-rush hour speeds seem kinda low.  Then I spotted this one: http://atri-online.org/research/results/congestion_mobility/2017bottleneck/078.pdf Apparently the travel speed is limited to the speed limit of the roadway.  Clearly these trucks are running faster than 55 in a 55 zone.

This one is even worse: http://atri-online.org/research/results/congestion_mobility/2017bottleneck/097.pdf  Speed limit of 55 mph, but yet the chart tries to show that speeds are averaging barely 50 mph...even in the middle of the night.  No way in hell is that the truth.

I'm wondering where they got their info from.