Congested freeways

[Alex]

You should tell people what happens to you if you run out of gas or break down on the WA-520 bridge.

[haljackey]

401 on a light day:

[ComputerGuy]

aaroads: Hmm...never seen that happen...I guess a big pileup

[Voyager]

Is that real?

[ComputerGuy]

IDK.

[Voyager]

Computerguy, please, put more into your posts. NOBODY likes reading an entire post that says "IDK".

Thank you.

[Alex]

aaroads: Hmm...never seen that happen...I guess a big pileup

From what Chris Kalina (seattleroadgeek) told us, you get towed and fined, regardless of whether you are broken down or out of gas. The lack of shoulders and traffic congestion mandate no obstructions.

When we took the bridge, there was a red pick-up broken down in the opposite direction. What a back-up for 11 am!

[deathtopumpkins]

I hate bridges with no shoulders, we have our good share of them. Specifically the James River Bridge on US-258/17.

Most likely this was the result of something on 64 East.  In my 4 years in Norfolk I never saw 564 jammed up in and of itself...

Nope. Heading towards the naval base, so WB.

As for that 401 picture, it's real. Look on Google Earth, at one point I found where that picture was taken.

[Sykotyk]

Congested freeways, oh let me count the headaches:

I-35 between San Antonio and Hillsboro (at the I-35E/I-35W split). I-35W through downtown Fort Worth (horrible bottleneck).
I-55/I-64/I-70 from downtown St. Louis, MO to E. St. Louis, IL.
I-80 through Joliet, IL (desperately needs a bypass built).
I-70 through downtown Columbus, OH (when a freeway shrinks to one lane near I-71/OH-315).
I-90 at the eastern tollbooth near Buffalo, NY (horrible backup during rushhour).
I-95 over the George Washington Bridge (not enough lead-up for all the toll booths causes backup by everyone going to the cash lanes)
I-10 through Baton Rouge (absolutely nightmarish)


Sykotyk

[Voyager]

Oh yeah did I mention everything in the bay area? I actually mean everything.

[travelinmiles]

Is CA 87 Guadalupe Pkwy ever jammed in San Jose?

[DrZoidberg]

Just got back to Portland after a few days in So. Cal for spring break, visiting relatives, and taking the little one to Disney.

Wow! CA 91 was bad even on a Sunday afternoon! The HOT lanes look like they'd help, however.  Maybe I caught it on a bad day, but heading west from Yorba Linda to our hotel in Anaheim was horribly gridlocked! 

[Chris]

Is traffic congestion decreasing now with the economic crisis and all? I can tell the amount of traffic jams in the Netherlands dropped significantly in the last 6 months, I guess it's the same in the United States.

I often check the "traffic" feature in Google Earth, you can show real-time traffic speeds. Even the Santa Monica freeway was moving at 30 mph at 8 am...