What city is the worst to drive in?

[Thomas77]

I personally despise driving in Philadelphia, PA and the baltimore - Washington freeway the most.
They just are traffic filled hell.

[webny99]

We have had a variation of this topic at least once before... and probably more recently as well if I cared to do a more extensive search. 

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9985.msg236911#msg236911

[hotdogPi]

We have had this topic at least once before... and probably more recently as well if I cared to do a more extensive search. 

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9985.msg236911#msg236911

Different thread. Worst to drive in has congestion as a significant factor, while the thread you linked doesn't.

[SkyPesos]

Quindaro

[webny99]

We have had this topic at least once before... and probably more recently as well if I cared to do a more extensive search. 

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=9985.msg236911#msg236911

Different thread. Worst to drive in has congestion as a significant factor, while the thread you linked doesn't.

Not identical, but related.

[JayhawkCO]

Jakarta.  I flew from Singapore to Jakarta and it was 1h45m.  I took a taxi from Jakarta airport to a hotel in the center of the city: 2h30m.

Chris

[Max Rockatansky]

Orlando is throughly unlikeable due to an incoherent street grid and general sparse number of limited access roads.  I often found myself using neighborhood streets as through roads far more often than any other large city I've lived in. 

On the more international side Guadalajara was quite the adventure to drive around in. But that's almost unfair to call any Mexican City even a close approximation to anything up north in the U.S. or Canada.

[bing101]

Manila, Philippines but that was before the Manila Skyway was completed. Thats a biased sample and it was it was pre-pandemic era when I went there given that New Clark City was named as a candidate to be an alternative economic hub for the Philippines besides National Capital Region area aka Metro Manila.
Also some other parts of the Philippines were in the process of building new bridges and freeways as part of the decongest Manila Program as a way to spread economic weath other other parts of the country like Visayas and Mindanao areas.

[Bickendan]

Kolkata

[Flint1979]

Boston. The streets are narrow because it was built during the horse and buggy days, too many one way streets and streets that just wind all over the place and change names often, it's one of the worst cities to drive in too.

[Rothman]

Boston. The streets are narrow because it was built during the horse and buggy days, too many one way streets and streets that just wind all over the place and change names often, it's one of the worst cities to drive in too.

In terms of traffic, Boston is definitely a top tier city, but it's not the worst.

[Ned Weasel]

Just a part of a city, but I've long said, after the one time I drove in Manhattan, I'd never do it again unless I absolutely had to.  Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island have always been fine to drive in in my experience (unless you get stuck in traffic hell on the LIE, but that's not very unlike congested freeways in other major cities).  I don't recall ever having driven in the Bronx, so I can't comment on that.

[Rothman]

Just a part of a city, but I've long said, after the one time I drove in Manhattan, I'd never do it again unless I absolutely had to.  Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island have always been fine to drive in in my experience (unless you get stuck in traffic hell on the LIE, but that's not very unlike congested freeways in other major cities).  I don't recall ever having driven in the Bronx, so I can't comment on that.

North of Canal, I haven't had an issue driving in Manhattan (i.e., in the grid), even with traffic.  I find that as long as you know where you're going, other drivers "work with you."  But, if you're unsure of what lane you're in or doing other stupid stuff, that is when you create trouble for yourself and others.

ETA: I visited my daughter in Brooklyn over the summer and, accepting the traffic, getting from the Manhattan Bridge over to the Holland Tunnel was pleasant enough, relatively speaking.

[bing101]

Boyle Heights part of Los Angeles is the worst part within LA area for traffic but then again how much of a change will LA get in expanding LA Metro Light Rail and the proposed High Speed rail to reach LA is yet to be seen.


Also San Francisco but that was pre-pandemic when the Bay Bridge was crowded and when jobs were centralized to the San Francisco/San Mateo Peninsula and the Santa Clara Valley. How much will work from home, Moving the CEO of tech operations to Texas and the trend of Digital Nomads will influence white collar jobs in the long term is yet to be seen here.


https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-10-11/tesla-texas-elon-musk


https://www.kut.org/business/2021-10-07/tesla-says-its-moving-its-headquarters-to-austin

https://www.travelweekly.com/Caribbean-Travel/Insights/Caribbean-seeks-to-capitalize-on-digital-nomad-trend




https://www.economist.com/europe/2021/10/02/why-europe-is-a-great-place-for-digital-nomads

[bing101]

Oakland because of port traffic on I-880 and also has to contend with traffic heading to San Francisco or San Jose.

[bing101]

Kolkata. But this link was from 2008 when that was the case. In 2021 I have to wait and see how things changed since then.

[achilles765]

I didn't mind driving in NYC or Boston when I used to go with my friends up there... I did hate how narrow and few lanes most of the freeways in NYC had... 3 lanes on IH 95, seriously? 
Boston was not too bad either...I am trying to think if there was anywhere I hated driving....OHHH yes.  DC.  inside the actual city...wasn't a huge fan of Philadelphia either.
Baton Rouge sucks too because of the poorly designed roads and terrible drivers.

Give me the insanity of Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas anyday

[CoreySamson]

Baton Rouge sucks too because of the poorly designed roads and terrible drivers.

I very much agree. A big part of the problem was the mass exodus of people from New Orleans from Katrina. My parents say it wasn't that bad before that happened.

Give me the insanity of Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas anyday

But not Austin. For me it's a toss-up whether Austin or Baton Rouge is worse.

[achilles765]

Baton Rouge sucks too because of the poorly designed roads and terrible drivers.

I very much agree. A big part of the problem was the mass exodus of people from New Orleans from Katrina. My parents say it wasn't that bad before that happened.

Give me the insanity of Houston, San Antonio, or Dallas anyday

But not Austin. For me it's a toss-up whether Austin or Baton Rouge is worse.

I actually have never been to Austin but I have heard from literally everyone who has ever been there how bad driving on IH 35 is...people really hate then double deck portion, which is funny because the double decked segments in San Antonio dont get any hate it seems like...and they are pretty cool to drive through.

[Flint1979]

Other cities other than Boston that have traffic that have got on my nerves are Atlanta and Dallas. I didn't hit much traffic when I was in Houston it didn't seem like but I remember coming back from Austin in January 2014 and hitting massive traffic when I went through Dallas and I was taking a rather scenic way home stopping by some points in Oklahoma. I could probably have bypassed Dallas if I took another route.

[ctkatz]

I've driven through several major cities- new york, boston, chicago, atlanta, miami, orlando, st. louis, Milwaukee, kansas city, denver, and on and on. but after driving through los angeles, it made me seriously consider giving up my driver's license.

[bing101]

Manila Traffic pre Skyway completion.

[JayhawkCO]

I know it's not exactly the same topic, but on my last trip, my least favorite state to drive in was Connecticut.  Specifically I-95 where you're going through what feels like rural areas but you're in stop and go traffic for no good reason.  I also found that the tri-state area had the highest concentration of left lane hogs that I've ever experienced.  Just tons of people blissfully unaware that they have a line of 10 cars behind them and they're going 10 under.  The middle lane was consistently the fastest.

Chris

[hotdogPi]

I also found that the tri-state area had the highest concentration of left lane hogs that I've ever experienced.

Interesting... based on what others have said, this seems to be a problem everywhere except New England. Maybe the region where it doesn't happen is smaller than I thought?

[JayhawkCO]

I also found that the tri-state area had the highest concentration of left lane hogs that I've ever experienced.

Interesting... based on what others have said, this seems to be a problem everywhere except New England. Maybe the region where it doesn't happen is smaller than I thought?

I rarely see it here in Colorado.  Kansas City isn't too bad but worse than here.  In Connecticut, it was particularly bad from the NY state line to Bridgeport.  From entering the NJ Turnpike to leaving I-95 at New Haven, probably had 12-15 egregious situations with no interest at all in moving over?  It's one thing to get stuck there for a minute, it's another to be literally driving the slowest of any car within a mile of you and hugging the left lane.

Chris