Most congested ramp

[webny99]

What is the single most congested/incapable of handling high volumes/screw up the whole freeway/delay-prone ramp in your area?

For Rochester, I 490 West to NY 590 North gets the honorable title.

[vdeane]

For Albany I'll say the "ramp" from I-87 south to I-90 west (actually the I-87 mainline).  Only one lane at the start (the option lane was removed in order to slow trucks down, since they were tipping over on the curve), and it ends with a very tight curve because the toll booths are just after it.

[Revive 755]

What is the single most congested/incapable of handling high volumes/screw up the whole freeway/delay-prone ramp in your area?

The 'screw up the whole freeway' wipes out some of the ones I was going to nominate for Chicagoland since some of the ramps would be from C-D (NB I-294 to WB I-290) or local lanes (WB I-290 to WB I-90).  I will though nominate I-290 to SB I-294.

[jp the roadgeek]

1. The ramp from I-91 North to US 5/CT 15 North in Hartford, CT.  It's an integral link in the drive from New York to Boston as it acts as the de facto connection between I-91 North and I-84 East and vice versa.

2.  Mass Pike Exit 9 westbound.  Might get better over time with the removal of the toll barrier, but it's still a bottleneck.

[Quillz]

Newhall Pass interchange

Yes, so congested it messes up two entire freeways for miles in every direction.

[sparker]

Hands down -- the loop ramp from South I-880 to South US 101 (an interchange I've condemned many times previously!).  There's even a sign indicating that the actual radius of the ramp curvature changes (tightens) during the transition process.  The fact that it consistently backs up onto SB I-880 during the peak commute only adds to the misery. 

[Flint1979]

It's not really in my area but I am in Chicago enough to say the Circle Interchange where the Dan Ryan, Kennedy and Eisenhower all come together.

[JJBers]

Every single ramp in a line on August 21, 2017

[US 89]

From my experience, I would say the worst in the SLC area is from 215 west to 15 south in the afternoon. 80 west to 15 south is also pretty bad.

[epzik8]

Maryland Route 24 northbound out of Bel Air to U.S. Route 1 (the Bel Air Bypass). Everyone goes that way instead of U.S. 1 south.

[jeffandnicole]

This may be exaggerating the problem, but the little, 100 foot left lane slip ramp from I-295 South to NJ 42 South will backup traffic 10 miles or more!

[Brandon]

It's not really in my area but I am in Chicago enough to say the Circle Interchange where the Dan Ryan, Kennedy and Eisenhower all come together.

Congested, but that's the whole area.  For a single ramp, I'd say the one from I-294 north to I-290 west.  That is, hands down, the worst single ramp in Chicagoland.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The Twin Cities has three options that I'm aware of:

1. Northbound MN 77 to westbound MN 62
2. Eastbound I-394 to eastbound I-94
3. Northbound I-35W to westbound I-94

I find that #2 is almost always a mess, even if it's not rush hour. The other two have been a bit more variable in my experiences.

[sbeaver44]

I-83 North to PA 581 West (Exit 41A) near Harrisburg.  Lack of merge area creates backups, I have seen it as far back as Exit 39B (I-76) during morning rush hour.

Nexus 6P

[cpzilliacus]

One (pre-Interstate) interchange in Maryland comes to mind:

The junction of U.S. 50 (John Hanson Highway), MD-201 (Kenilworth Avenue), the Baltimore-Washington Parkway (unsigned MD-295) and MD-459 (Tuxedo Road) in Tuxedo, Maryland.

Two ramps in the interchange are terrible.  Their creaking design can cause backups for several miles. 

In the AM commute period, Westbound U.S. 50 to Southbound MD-201; and
In the PM commute  period, Northbound MD-201 to eastbound U.S. 50.

[LM117]

In Goldsboro, NC it was the single lane ramps carrying US-70 thru traffic at the US-70/Grantham Street interchange. US-70 in that area was a parking lot during rush hour, epescially westbound traffic, which would sometimes back up all the way to the William Street interchange. I drove through there many times over the years when I lived there and I hated it. Since the new US-70 Bypass (Future I-42) opened last year, it doesn't back up nearly as bad anymore, but the design is still woefully out of date. If you look at the older Streetview images on the US-70 West ramp, you can get an idea of what the backups were like before the US-70 Bypass opened.

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.3965307,-78.0016885,15.7z?hl=en

[Sctvhound]

In Charleston area: the ramp from I-526 to I-26 going from Daniel Island/Mt. Pleasant in North Charleston. Terrible traffic backups, especially during afternoon rush hour. Can backup for 20-30 minutes at a time.

[fillup420]

Charlotte, NC: I-277 Outer to I-77 North. The construction on 77 plus the existing horrible traffic causes backups for almost a mile in the right lane of 277.

[tdindy88]

For Indianapolis I'm going to guess the one-lane loop ramp from EB I-465 to NB I-69 on the northeast side. It's no wonder that INDOT is planning on building a flyover ramp in a few years the only question is why they haven't done it already. Previously the loop ramp from WB I-465 to SB I-65 on the south side was bad enough to jam up I-465 for several miles to the east but a new flyover ramp built there has almost completely taken care of that problem.

[Eth]

I nominate I-285 east to I-85 north at Spaghetti Junction. Passing through there on I-285, I know that if I'm not in the far left lane, I'm gonna have a bad time.

[CG777]

From my experience, I would say the worst in the SLC area is from 215 west to 15 south in the afternoon. 80 west to 15 south is also pretty bad.

Almost every ramp in SLC is that way...

KIW-L24

[ekt8750]

Just about every ramp on and off the Schuylkill Expressway.

[jemacedo9]

Just about every ramp on and off the Schuylkill Expressway.

I was trying to decide which ones in the Philly area were the worst.  I came up with three toss ups:

I-676 West to I-76 West
US 1 South/US 1 North/City Ave ramps to I-76 West
I-476 North to I-76 West

Common demoninator?  Shocker. 

[TheStranger]

The ramp that carries US 101 in San Francisco from the eastbound Central Freeway to the southbound Bayshore Freeway is backed up at rush hour daily due to extraordinarily short merge distances twice in 500 feet (10th Street onramp followed almost immediately by the west terminus of I-80).

SAMSUNG-SM-J327A

[jakeroot]

In Seattle's South Sound region, there's a couple that seem to jockey for first place:

- Hwy 518 EB towards I-5 SB -- there's a ramp meter so the traffic backs up pretty far
- 405 SB towards Hwy 167 SB -- congested loop ramp. It can be slow even at 3 AM
- 705 SB towards I-5 SB -- the now-single-lane ramp (former dual-lane ramp) creates jams as far back as the start of the interstate.

I'd need another Seattleite to confirm these, since none seem to be worse than the others. Luckily, the second and third ramps are due for some remodelling, so they should get better soon.