Best and Worst Main Thoroughfares in Each City?

[kevinb1994]

I know it seems like it could be a difficult subject, but what would you guys consider to be the best and worst main thoroughfares in each city?

[Flint1979]

Detroit
Best would probably be the Davison Freeway, Woodward Avenue, Grand River Avenue, Gratiot Avenue, Micihgan Avenue and I-96.

Worst would be I-75, M-10, M-39, I-94

[Max Rockatansky]

In Fresno I'd have to say Jensen Avenue is by far the fastest moving surface street in the city.  While there aren't that many bad surface streets I'd say Golden State Boulevard ranks pretty high since the lights are timed and Shaw Avenue because of the college traffic.  The best freeway is CA 168 and the worst is CA 41. 

In Orlando FL 436 on Semoran Boulevard was by far the fastest surface street in the city.  US 17/92/441 had the most traffic bottlenecks, I usually stuck to Orange Avenue.  I-4 was obviously the worst limited access road in the city and FL 417 was the best toll facility. 

In Phoenix one of the worst surface streets was Bell Road west of AZ 51.  Scottsdale Road was pretty bad even after it was expanded in the early 2000s.  Most city streets on the whole fairly tame compared to most cities.  AZ 51 had the worst bottlenecks in downtown near I-10 whereas AZ 202 is generally congestion free. 

[webny99]

The first question is, how is a thoroughfare being defined?

Obviously, it is tough to compare surface streets with freeways. Excluding the latter, I would say, "there is no best, they're all 'worst'!" 

[thspfc]

Move to general highway talk?
Anyways, for Madison I would say the worst are the Beltline, Verona Road, East Washington, Gorham, and Johnson. Four of those (spare the beltline which sucks for it's own reasons) have lots of traffic and lots of stoplights, so you're moving slow and burning gas.

[kevinb1994]

Move to general highway talk?
Anyways, for Madison I would say the worst are the Beltline, Verona Road, East Washington, Gorham, and Johnson. Four of those (spare the beltline which sucks for it's own reasons) have lots of traffic and lots of stoplights, so you're moving slow and burning gas.

Yeah, maybe this thread should be moved. Mods?

[kevinb1994]

The first question is, how is a thoroughfare being defined?

Obviously, it is tough to compare surface streets with freeways. Excluding the latter, I would say, "there is no best, they're all 'worst'!" 

Maybe I should define it better. Lol

Main thoroughfares is what we're talking about.

[MNHighwayMan]

The first question is, how is a thoroughfare being defined?

Obviously, it is tough to compare surface streets with freeways. Excluding the latter, I would say, "there is no best, they're all 'worst'!" 

Maybe I should define it better. Lol

Main thoroughfares is what we're talking about.

Needs to define it better... proceeds to not be specific at all.

[kevinb1994]

The first question is, how is a thoroughfare being defined?

Obviously, it is tough to compare surface streets with freeways. Excluding the latter, I would say, "there is no best, they're all 'worst'!" 

Maybe I should define it better. Lol

Main thoroughfares is what we're talking about.

Needs to define it better... proceeds to not be specific at all.

C'mon man! At least I tried.

[Rothman]

Best and worst in Albany metro:  Central Avenue. 

Has sections that work well, but the part through the Village of Colonie sucks because of lack of traffic signal coordination.

If we're including interstates, the Northway from the Twin Bridges south is pretty lousy...but you could blame that on idiots choosing to live north of them.

[Bruce]

Worst: Mercer Street (now a boulevard that is harder to cross and more pedestrian-hostile), Rainier Avenue (free-for-all speedway), Denny Way (permanently congested), and pretty much most neighborhood arterials for safety and aesthetics.

[webny99]

The first question is, how is a thoroughfare being defined?

Maybe I should define it better. Lol
Main thoroughfares is what we're talking about.

Needs to define it better... proceeds to not be specific at all.

C'mon man! At least I tried.

I think "main" was automatically implied as a feature of a thoroughfare.

Let me rephrase:
What characteristics must a main roadway have to qualify as a thoroughfare?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minneapolis:

Worst: Lyndale Avenue. Narrow undivided 4-lane street that's traffic-choked with no turn lanes and frequent bus stoppage backups in the right lane. The Hennepin/Lyndale duplex on top of the I-94 tunnel is a special kind of hell.

Best: Washington Avenue

Duluth
Worst: 5th Avenue, especially if there's an event at Bayfront Park
Best: Mesaba Avenue

[ce929wax]

The worst in Kalamazoo is Westnedge Avenue, hands down.  People either drive too fast or too slow.  Best is Sprinkle Road, which has a 55 mph speed limit until BL I-94.

[Flint1979]

For Saginaw, the worst is probably a tie between M-84 aka Bay Road and M-58 aka Davenport Avenue and State Street. Michigan Avenue has a lot of traffic lights. And Tittabawassee Road between M-47 aka Midland Road and I-675 has a lot of traffic especially near Bay Road. M-46 aka Gratiot Avenue has a lot of accidents mainly because of a 45 mph speed limit and several driveways close together.

The best M-13 aka Washington Avenue north of downtown it has a 50 mph speed limit and a 40 mph speed limit south of downtown. Downtown it has a 30 mph speed limit., I-675, I-75

[webny99]

It seems like we're not including freeways.

In that case, Ridge Road is the worst. All of it, but especially in Webster.
Best is anything that is expressway grade or better, especially with well timed lights.

[JREwing78]

Move to general highway talk?
Anyways, for Madison I would say the worst are the Beltline, Verona Road, East Washington, Gorham, and Johnson. Four of those (spare the beltline which sucks for it's own reasons) have lots of traffic and lots of stoplights, so you're moving slow and burning gas.

I notice that you don't list the best - because honestly there really is none. Well, maybe Packers Ave - but that's mainly because Oscar Mayer is no longer in town.

[sparker]

As it's now assumed we're dealing with surface routes only, some NorCal "thoroughfares" will be addressed:

San Jose:  Where to begin?  They all become clogged pipes during rush hour; one of the very worst is Meridian Avenue from I-280 south to at least Hillsdale Blvd.  Since there's no direct access to CA 85, traffic below there isn't particularly troublesome; north of Hillsdale, it's enough to be dangerous.   And it's "pothole central" as well.  In the north part of town, all the N-S arterials (North First, Zanker, Junction) that serve what has become the "heart" of tech employment go directly to hell from 6-9 each weekday morning and 3-7 in the afternoon.  And heading over to the east side, Tully Road is by far the worst of the worst for traffic, design, signal timing, frequency of lane-drop due to construction -- you name it, if it makes traffic worse, it shows up on Tully!

A bit to the northwest, El Camino Real (aka CA 82) is always good for a driver cry; between the periodic virtual stops (particularly around Lawrence Expressway) and the constant dodging of vehicles coming in and out of the endless roadside business establishments, it's not a fun drive -- and the constant state of reconstruction hardly helps.  If not for the fact that several great restaurants are sited on the facility, I'd avoid it like the plague!  Relevant cities:  Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mtn. View, Palo Alto. 

Best thoroughfare in the whole area, IMO:  Winchester Blvd. (the section between I-280 and Stevens Creek notwithstanding -- it's right by two major shopping centers in that short segment).  Rarely any backup, even in peak hours; tends to be a lot quicker that adjacent CA 17 during those times (it seems the overflow tends to head east to Bascom).  The fact that (a) it doesn't extend into the tech area along Central Expressway but instead ends across the tracks in downtown Santa Clara probably helps in this regard, and (b) it contains long stretches without significant crossing arterials to feed into it. 

Don't head up to Sacramento all that much these days, but have had recent experience with the historical "cloggers" of Howe, Watt, Fair Oaks, and Arden Way -- and not a lot has changed since I lived up there in the late '80's.  Streets that were nightmares then are the same -- if not worse -- today.  Of course, the deletion of all those freeways back in the '70's meant that those "grid" streets bear the brunt of commuter use.  Such is progress -- or the lack thereof!   

[Techknow]

I generally drive regularly only a few of the many thoroughfares in San Francisco, so here they are:

CA-1 (19th Avenue, Crossover Drive, Park Presidio Bypass and Boulevard): 19th Avenue one of the two workhorse arterials in the west half of the city, the other being Sunset Boulevard. It can take 10 to 15 minutes to get through 19th Avenue, which greatly contributes to my half hour commute to the Golden Gate Bridge. In the morning of Memorial Day however traffic was ideal enough that I just zipped through and only had one stop light which was great, it would always be three or four. Otherwise the whole route experiences high traffic everyday, especially during the weekend.

Ocean Avenue from San Jose Avenue to 19th Avenue: Ranges from okay to terrible for me. Most traffic light intersections permit left turns and cars tend to turn left even when many cars are behind it which is so annoying. When I have to turn left (to get to San Francisco State) I always try to do it if there's no traffic light or no traffic at the light. Also For whatever reason there are two merge points on Ocean Avenue near City College of San Francisco, the I-280 southbound interchange and Geneva Avenue heading west to its start point, which is another I-280 exit! This part of Ocean Avenue thus have so many cars coming into it, so it's the shortest way for me to go west, but never the fastest. That title belongs to...

Monterey Boulevard: It starts at 4 lanes but becomes two at Plymouth Avenue, but there are no traffic lights at that point so it's a good alternative to Ocean. I always take it to get to 19th Avenue. Also it takes you through St. Francis Wood where the houses are suddenly worth two to five times more than the city average.

Mission Street: One of the few streets that start and end at opposite ends of the city (another is Geary which I don't drive on). It's 4-lane all the way but also where many businesses are so it's rather slow to go through. At Cesar Chavez Street through the Mission district, the street is striped red on the right, only permitting buses, taxis, and right turns.

Alemany Boulevard: Runs parallel to I-280 until it intersects it at Mission Street, and it intersects it again at the Alemany Maze. Good way to bypass Mission Street at the south part of the city, less traffic compared to near I-280/US 101 at the Alemany Maze of course. Also 4-lane but has a center divider.

San Jose Avenue: Another 4-lane street that runs parallel to Mission, until it reaches Dolores Street. For about a mile or so it becomes a 4-lane arterial with a posted 45 MPH limit. But when going northbound in the afternoon, just be prepared to be sitting at the traffic light where it intersects at Randall Street!

Brotherhood Way: One of the few arterials that also have a posted 45 MPH limit, but it's close to the south edge of the city near SF State. Despite intersecting CA-1 I don't recall traffic congestion here, but I never driven on it during rush hour.

Westbound (southern SF): Best is Monterey Blvd, worst is Ocean Avenue.
Northbound (southern SF): Best is San Jose Avenue, worst is Mission Street.

[bing101]

As it's now assumed we're dealing with surface routes only, some NorCal "thoroughfares" will be addressed:

San Jose:  Where to begin?  They all become clogged pipes during rush hour; one of the very worst is Meridian Avenue from I-280 south to at least Hillsdale Blvd.  Since there's no direct access to CA 85, traffic below there isn't particularly troublesome; north of Hillsdale, it's enough to be dangerous.   And it's "pothole central" as well.  In the north part of town, all the N-S arterials (North First, Zanker, Junction) that serve what has become the "heart" of tech employment go directly to hell from 6-9 each weekday morning and 3-7 in the afternoon.  And heading over to the east side, Tully Road is by far the worst of the worst for traffic, design, signal timing, frequency of lane-drop due to construction -- you name it, if it makes traffic worse, it shows up on Tully!

A bit to the northwest, El Camino Real (aka CA 82) is always good for a driver cry; between the periodic virtual stops (particularly around Lawrence Expressway) and the constant dodging of vehicles coming in and out of the endless roadside business establishments, it's not a fun drive -- and the constant state of reconstruction hardly helps.  If not for the fact that several great restaurants are sited on the facility, I'd avoid it like the plague!  Relevant cities:  Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mtn. View, Palo Alto. 

Best thoroughfare in the whole area, IMO:  Winchester Blvd. (the section between I-280 and Stevens Creek notwithstanding -- it's right by two major shopping centers in that short segment).  Rarely any backup, even in peak hours; tends to be a lot quicker that adjacent CA 17 during those times (it seems the overflow tends to head east to Bascom).  The fact that (a) it doesn't extend into the tech area along Central Expressway but instead ends across the tracks in downtown Santa Clara probably helps in this regard, and (b) it contains long stretches without significant crossing arterials to feed into it. 

Don't head up to Sacramento all that much these days, but have had recent experience with the historical "cloggers" of Howe, Watt, Fair Oaks, and Arden Way -- and not a lot has changed since I lived up there in the late '80's.  Streets that were nightmares then are the same -- if not worse -- today.  Of course, the deletion of all those freeways back in the '70's meant that those "grid" streets bear the brunt of commuter use.  Such is progress -- or the lack thereof!   

Folsom blvd in Sacramento area is another place where the streets are clogged during the fall and spring semesters at Sacramento State University. And its due to commuters getting off US-50 to enter the campus.

J Street would be another candidate for being clogged too for both downtown traffic and Sac State traffic.

[skluth]

In the Coachella Valley, it's usually events that screw up traffic. Coachella and other music festivals, major golf and tennis tournaments, Pride, and the major winter holidays all muck up traffic. However, Palm Canyon Drive/CA 111 is a stop/start nightmare with speeders and retired slowpokes vying for worst annoyance. It connects the CBDs of Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, Indian Wells, and Indio, so it's busy most hours. I try to avoid it, but many times that's not possible. I live only three blocks from it and a quarter of the Valley's population probably lives within a mile of it.

The best E/W route depends on where you are. The cities in the CV are mostly in a WNW-ESE alignment which results in a stair-step approach to driving E/W on anything but CA 111 and I-10. In order, from Palm Springs to Indio is Chino Canyon, Dinah Shore Drive, Gerald Ford, and then pretty much anything but the ends of Fred Waring. Basically, if you avoid CA 111 and Ramon going E/W you should be fine (and even Ramon is fine east of Cathedral City). If the thoroughfare you're driving is busy, just go either north or south to the next parallel road as the grid is roads evenly spaced one-mile.

N/S routes aren't that bad, even the busier ones like Indian Canyon, Gene Autry, Palm Drive, and Monterey. The worst may be Washington, but that's in the East Valley and I rarely go there.

[Flint1979]

Flint has Dort Hwy which is good. And Saginaw street which is slower. Dort starts at Saginaw just south of Clio and Saginaw and Dort Highway cross each other again in Grand Blanc. Taking Dort Highway is quicker it bypasses downtown.

[bing101]

I generally drive regularly only a few of the many thoroughfares in San Francisco, so here they are:

CA-1 (19th Avenue, Crossover Drive, Park Presidio Bypass and Boulevard): 19th Avenue one of the two workhorse arterials in the west half of the city, the other being Sunset Boulevard. It can take 10 to 15 minutes to get through 19th Avenue, which greatly contributes to my half hour commute to the Golden Gate Bridge. In the morning of Memorial Day however traffic was ideal enough that I just zipped through and only had one stop light which was great, it would always be three or four. Otherwise the whole route experiences high traffic everyday, especially during the weekend.

Ocean Avenue from San Jose Avenue to 19th Avenue: Ranges from okay to terrible for me. Most traffic light intersections permit left turns and cars tend to turn left even when many cars are behind it which is so annoying. When I have to turn left (to get to San Francisco State) I always try to do it if there's no traffic light or no traffic at the light. Also For whatever reason there are two merge points on Ocean Avenue near City College of San Francisco, the I-280 southbound interchange and Geneva Avenue heading west to its start point, which is another I-280 exit! This part of Ocean Avenue thus have so many cars coming into it, so it's the shortest way for me to go west, but never the fastest. That title belongs to...

Monterey Boulevard: It starts at 4 lanes but becomes two at Plymouth Avenue, but there are no traffic lights at that point so it's a good alternative to Ocean. I always take it to get to 19th Avenue. Also it takes you through St. Francis Wood where the houses are suddenly worth two to five times more than the city average.

Mission Street: One of the few streets that start and end at opposite ends of the city (another is Geary which I don't drive on). It's 4-lane all the way but also where many businesses are so it's rather slow to go through. At Cesar Chavez Street through the Mission district, the street is striped red on the right, only permitting buses, taxis, and right turns.

Alemany Boulevard: Runs parallel to I-280 until it intersects it at Mission Street, and it intersects it again at the Alemany Maze. Good way to bypass Mission Street at the south part of the city, less traffic compared to near I-280/US 101 at the Alemany Maze of course. Also 4-lane but has a center divider.

San Jose Avenue: Another 4-lane street that runs parallel to Mission, until it reaches Dolores Street. For about a mile or so it becomes a 4-lane arterial with a posted 45 MPH limit. But when going northbound in the afternoon, just be prepared to be sitting at the traffic light where it intersects at Randall Street!

Brotherhood Way: One of the few arterials that also have a posted 45 MPH limit, but it's close to the south edge of the city near SF State. Despite intersecting CA-1 I don't recall traffic congestion here, but I never driven on it during rush hour.

Westbound (southern SF): Best is Monterey Blvd, worst is Ocean Avenue.
Northbound (southern SF): Best is San Jose Avenue, worst is Mission Street.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/King-Street-is-S-F-s-new-city-center-2474227.php


King Street in San Francisco should be in the running for best or Worst Streets in San Francisco given that this portion of the city has been transformed in the past 20 years from an industrial wasteland to the most gentrified part of San Francisco.

[debragga]

Monroe, LA

Best: MLK/Sterlington Rd (US 165): 50 mph speed limit, some traffic lights but flows smoothly for the most part.

Worst: Louisville Ave/Desiard St (US 80): 35/40 mph speed limit, lots of curves, lots of business and driveways with very few turn lanes, lots of lights that aren't synced up to each other (except near downtown), skirts the downtown area and frequently gets backed up in this area going toward the Lea Joiner Bridge.

[mrsman]

Central Los Angeles: (More or less between Downtown and La Cienega, Hollywood Hills to Jefferson)

E-W streets:  Generally speaking streets with businesses are worse than streets without.  Obviously small side streets are littered with stop signs, but certain mini-thorofares are very reasonable shortcuts.

Hollywood Blvd is to be avoided. Franklin and Fountain are pretty good if you are in the northern section of town.  Sunset is OK, except the Sunset Strip section (Doheny-Crescent Heights) to be avoided.

Santa Monica is terrible.  Wilshire is terrible.  Melrose, Beverly, and 3rd are OK.  6th is pretty speedy west of Western.  Olympic is good, except at rush hour when it's overloaded.  At other times it is far better than any nearby parallel street.  At rush hour it is only beat by 6th and Venice.

San Vicente is one of the best, but it goes at an angle, so it may not help you.  Venice, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson are all pretty good, as they don't really hit the main commercial parts of town.

N-S Streets:

La Cienega is great as a connector to the Airport.  It may slow down some at the Obama Blvd light, and then it is fairly OK till Pico.  Do not take LC north of Pico as it is horrible.
Robertson is generally pretty bad, Doheny nearby is a lot better.

Crescent Heights is great south of Sunset, Fairfax is terrible - especially the narrow section south of Olympic and the busy section between Melrose and 3rd.
La Brea is OK south of Olympic.  North of there, use Highland instead.  But Highland gets worse than La Brea once you go north of Melrose, as it leads to a main entrance to US 101 to the SFV.

Vine/Rossmore is good. Crenshaw is a really fast street.  Cauhenga is a good connector within Hollywood from Melrose to Hollywood Blvd, you will rarely enconter a jam.

Western and Vermont are jammed.  Normandie, Wilton/Arlington, and Hoover are superior alternatives.  Except for the Irolo St section in Koreatown, Normandie is an amazingly fast street that will go south all the way to San Pedro.  It is probably the fastest N-S surface street in all of LA.

----------------

Washington DC

Not too pleased with most streets in this area as the traffic signal timing is awful, especially in DC proper.

Independence Ave is probably the best E-W street in town.  Military Road is a great connector in the northern part of the city.

N-S street in the western part of town and nearby MD:  Avoid Wisconsin.  Reno Rd is better.  Connecticut Ave is OK in the city and really a fast street once you are north of the city line.

In the MD suburbs, E-W Hwy and University Blvd are far better than Randolph Rd.