Traffic Congestion

[Mergingtraffic]

So, for the locals in CT, I had to drive down to Stamford for business a few times and noticed that rush hour is still occuring on I-95 SB in Norwalk and Stamford at 10:30-10:45AM!

In the evening, I notice the same thing on the NB side after 7:30pm and the Merritt Pkwy (CT-15) still jams up at 7:45pm!  That's almost 8pm and still rush hour backups!  I never knew it was that long.

This has to be one of the worst in the nation.

Are there roads in your area that back up as long or late?

[Duke87]

The parkway at rush hour is temperamental. Some days it jams solid. Other days it's wide open. This is heading south towards Stamford in the morning and north away from Stamford in the evening. In Greenwich you don't usually hit trouble. In the reverse peak direction (which I do daily between exits 35 and 36) it's not wide open but there's never "congestion". Further south as the Hutch, the perpetual trouble spots are southbound just past 287 and northbound approaching the Cross County.

As for I-95... it backs up whenever, wherever the fuck it feels like because it's I-95. That's not rush hour traffic, it's just traffic. For whatever reason, though, you don't typically see traffic in Westchester County. Thruway Authority magic?

[InterstateNG]

I-35 in Austin.  That's a capacity issue.

[connroadgeek]

As for I-95... it backs up whenever, wherever the fuck it feels like because it's I-95.

Ha ha well said. You captured the sentiment perfectly. DOT really needs to start thinking of a plan because it certainly isn't going to get better. I know they can't widen. Perhaps they need to think about closing certain on-ramps during peak hours. One of the problems is on and off ramps spaced so closely together. Very few highways in the country have that many ramps in a 30 mile stretch.

[Mergingtraffic]

Ha ha well said. You captured the sentiment perfectly. DOT really needs to start thinking of a plan because it certainly isn't going to get better. I know they can't widen.

Actually they can if they really wanted to.  If they could double the size and capacity of i-95 in East Haven with the frontage roads and limited ROW, they could do it in Southwestern CT.  It's just not the PC thing to do.

Although they did widen I-95 SB between Exits 10 and 8 a couple years back by adding a 4th lane.  That does help.  If they could do that in more areas, and not just between 1 entrance and exit ramp but do it for a few exits that would help.  Such as NB between Exits 12 and 15 or 16. 

B/c what ever programs the DOT is currently doing isn't helping.  I think they want to decrease I-95 traffic by 5%.  ooooohhh big news. not! 

Are there other areas where traffic backs up as much or as long?

[connroadgeek]

Ha ha well said. You captured the sentiment perfectly. DOT really needs to start thinking of a plan because it certainly isn't going to get better. I know they can't widen.

Actually they can if they really wanted to.  If they could double the size and capacity of i-95 in East Haven with the frontage roads and limited ROW, they could do it in Southwestern CT.  It's just not the PC thing to do.

Although they did widen I-95 SB between Exits 10 and 8 a couple years back by adding a 4th lane.  That does help.  If they could do that in more areas, and not just between 1 entrance and exit ramp but do it for a few exits that would help.  Such as NB between Exits 12 and 15 or 16.  

B/c what ever programs the DOT is currently doing isn't helping.  I think they want to decrease I-95 traffic by 5%.  ooooohhh big news. not!  

Are there other areas where traffic backs up as much or as long?

The widening of I-95 between exit 9 and 13 was to add operational exit only lanes between those exits. Doesn't really do much to help with increasing capacity which is needed. I don't believe they can widen the actual footprint of the interstate due to the ROW being landlocked. They'd have to spend literally billions to acquire the necessary ROW to widen the interstate. That's really the issue - otherwise you have to think they'd have widened a long time ago. The highway really needs to be 5 lanes in each direction plus an operational lane to handle all the on and off ramp weaving. A local-express set up would work.

[Brandon]

Heh.  I've driven eastbound on I-80/94 in Indiana at 4 am and seen major backups in the westbound lanes at that early hour.  Just wall-wall trucks with a few cars scattered here and there.

[The Premier]

The Central Interchange area in Akron is usually congested in the morning and evening commutes, mainly because they narrow to two lanes each way.

[huskeroadgeek]

I was in a Greyhound bus one time that was caught in a traffic jam on the Dan Ryan Expwy. in Chicago at about 2 AM.

[jjakucyk]

Seems like more alternative modes of travel need to be investigated.  It's been clearly demonstrated for decades that widening roads doesn't solve congestion in the long term anyway.  When a highway is already completely landlocked, that makes it even more important to find other ways to move people and goods around. 

[Duke87]

There apparently was an idea floated a few years back to rebuild ports in smaller cities up and down the east coast and ship goods closer to their final destinations by sea rather than relying so much on trucks. It died, partially because the American Truckers Association had a few things to say about it.

I suppose you could try and use rail more, but that's only economical when done with large volumes of goods all headed from the same place to the same place. And the presence of commuter rail and Amtrak in the northeast limits opportunities to do this. As does the fact that there is nowhere a freight train can cross the Hudson south of Castleton (now that the Poughkeepsie Bridge has been permanently rail-to-trail'd) except for the limited "Cross Harbor Railway" barges.

[Kacie Jane]

I'll nominate I-5 in Seattle, both directions all times, but most terribly southbound reverse-peak.  (It has reversible express lanes, in case you're wondering how it could be worse reverse-peak.) By 2 PM, the traffic jam starts at 85th Street (about 8 miles north of downtown), sometimes by 4 PM, definitely by 5, it will be backed up all the way from South Everett (25 miles).

If I'm driving from Bellingham to Tacoma leisurely (i.e. not actually trying to get there in 2 hours), I'll typically take SR 9 to I-405 around Everett/Seattle, or on one occasion I've even taken the ferry to Port Townsend and driven down the west side of the sound.  Sure, it actually takes longer, but it's much more enjoyable than sitting in traffic.

[hm insulators]

There are many sections of freeway in the Los Angeles area that don't have rush hour, they have "rush day," where they can be totally congested between 6AM all the way to about 8PM without a break in between. I-405 between the San Fernando Valley and LAX is probably the worst, but there are other sections of freeway like that, too.

[PAHighways]

I-376/Parkway East:  Bates Street to Squirrel Hill Tunnel (afternoon)/Churchill to Squirrel Hill Tunnel (morning)
I-376/Parkway West:  Carnegie to Fort Pitt Tunnel (morning)
I-376/Parkway Central:  Grant Street to Fort Pitt Bridge (afternoon)

[Riverside Frwy]

For LA:

I-405(Obviously)
I-5 - The orange county segment particularly is a concrete-HOV-Behemoth.
CA-91(My avatar) - 1-605 and Eastward can get pretty bad during rush hours, and is pretty bad even during the weekends. Seeing as it's the ONLY highway(Yes, there are NO surface streets through that pass) that directly connects Riverside/San Bernardino with Orange County it's no surprise, especially since you have CA 55 and CA 241 orange county traffic directly feeding into the freeway.
East LA Interchange - I can't think of a time when this is NOT in the red.
US 101 through Hollywood(even on weekends, for obvious reasons) and Downtown LA - If have to go Hollywood or DTLA, I ALWAYS take the Metro Red Line Subway.

EDIT:
I-405/CA-22 duplex in Seal Beach. There is already 7 lanes per direction and a new lane is already well under construction - nuff' said.

[brownpelican]

* I-10 Metairie/New Orleans: Mornings-between Williams Blvd and Bonnabel Blvd. Afternoons between Carrollton Avenue/Airline Drive and Veterans Blvd.

*I-10/I-110 interchange Baton Rouge in the afternoon.

[Fleetwood Mac Attack]

Can't believe no one from the Mid-Atlantic has mentioned these yet:
- Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) pretty much anywhere, anytime, any direction between King of Prussia and downtown Philly. The freeway is incredibly over capacity (most of it is 2 lanes in each direction and can't be expanded). Some locals who commute this might know the specifics...
- Capital Beltway - since I'm used to the western segment between I-95 and I-66, I'll go with my experience: the I-495/I-270 interchange and Tyson's during construction/rush hour
- I-66 - pretty much anywhere between Arlington and Fairfax. The pavement is terrible near Fairfax and inside the Beltway the freeway is generally 2 lanes in each direction (even after VA-267/Dulles Toll Road merge into I-66...).
- Emmet St in Charlottesville 

[roadman65]

There is I-4 in Florida!  Most people from the North East to Tampa and the Gulf Coast, FL use US 301 from FL A1A in Northern Florida or simply use I-10 and I-75 via Lake City to avoid this road.

Orange Blossom Trail between Orlando and Kissimmee is too congested.  All the development in the Hunters Creek and Southchase area plus the Florida Mall increases volume tremendously! The road is currently six lanes, but when it was four lanes prior to 2006, traffic seemed to flow much easier.  Then the people from Meadow Woods do not like Orange Avenue to get to Downtown Orlando.  They would rather make their way over to OBT and clog up the much heavily used road even more. I think it was the worst idea ever to build Wetherbee Road over the Florida Turnpike.  It was intended for the owner of Southchase to expand his development that ended up as the entry point to Meadow Wood to fuel more OBT congestion.  Lynx busses and the poor job Orange County, FL does with signal timings are a major contributor to the situation as well.

[hbelkins]

Can't believe no one from the Mid-Atlantic has mentioned these yet:
- Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) pretty much anywhere, anytime, any direction between King of Prussia and downtown Philly. The freeway is incredibly over capacity (most of it is 2 lanes in each direction and can't be expanded). Some locals who commute this might know the specifics...

I was amazed how jammed up this highway was going westbound on a Sunday morning. I can't imagine how it would be at other, busier times.

[SteveG1988]

In NJ the ones i have experienced

NJ38 between I295 and the Moorestown Mall, near NJ73. it is easier to take I-295 down one exit to the mall as there are no lights, route 38's problem is all the traffic lights,the road is bad during the AM and PM rush hour.

NJ29 in the trenton tunnel, i was stuck in the tunnel due to the traffic light at the end of it, remove the lights there and you will have a smoother flowing road.

The Lower Trenton bridge, and the calhoun street bridge due to their lights can be prone to backing up over the river heading west, as eastbound there isn't a light for the calhoun street bridge.

[Ace10]

There is I-4 in Florida!  Most people from the North East to Tampa and the Gulf Coast, FL use US 301 from FL A1A in Northern Florida or simply use I-10 and I-75 via Lake City to avoid this road.

Wow. I-10 to I-75 to get to Tampa seems extremely long compared to I-4. Luckily, US 17/US 92 runs pretty parallel to I-4 from the east coast into Orlando. I think it would make much more sense to use that (if that route is in fact less congested) and then pick up SR 417 (the tolled beltway around Orlando) to travel east and then south of Orlando to pick up I-4 again west of Kissimmee. Another possibility will be available once the Wekiva Parkway is built (the other half of the beltway around Orlando).

I do have to agree that I-4 running through Altamonte Springs and Downtown Orlando is some of the worst traffic I've ever been in. OBT is not too far behind. Every other hint of a traffic jam I've been in since then just pales in comparison.

[jwolfer]

There is I-4 in Florida!  Most people from the North East to Tampa and the Gulf Coast, FL use US 301 from FL A1A in Northern Florida or simply use I-10 and I-75 via Lake City to avoid this road.

Wow. I-10 to I-75 to get to Tampa seems extremely long compared to I-4. Luckily, US 17/US 92 runs pretty parallel to I-4 from the east coast into Orlando. I think it would make much more sense to use that (if that route is in fact less congested) and then pick up SR 417 (the tolled beltway around Orlando) to travel east and then south of Orlando to pick up I-4 again west of Kissimmee. Another possibility will be available once the Wekiva Parkway is built (the other half of the beltway around Orlando).

I do have to agree that I-4 running through Altamonte Springs and Downtown Orlando is some of the worst traffic I've ever been in. OBT is not too far behind. Every other hint of a traffic jam I've been in since then just pales in comparison.

301 is the quickest and most direct route from Jacksonville area to Tampa Bay.  301 to SR 326 in Marion County.  But there are the infamous Speed Traps in Lawtey and Waldo.  And Starke is very congested.  There are plans to build a freeway bypass of Starke which will help.  But Jacksonville is growing and eventually 301 will probably be clogged with Walmart, Target and 14 Publix stores in a few years.

[pbrisebois]

The 401 through Mississauga seems to be always backed up, because of the current construction going on. This is especially bad Westbound approaching the 410 through to Mavis.

The Don Valley Parkway Northbound is also seemingly always backed up from Don Mills to York Mills.

Unfortunately I have to deal with both of these routes on my way to play soccer every weekend.

[1995hoo]

There is I-4 in Florida!  Most people from the North East to Tampa and the Gulf Coast, FL use US 301 from FL A1A in Northern Florida or simply use I-10 and I-75 via Lake City to avoid this road.

Wow. I-10 to I-75 to get to Tampa seems extremely long compared to I-4. Luckily, US 17/US 92 runs pretty parallel to I-4 from the east coast into Orlando. I think it would make much more sense to use that (if that route is in fact less congested) and then pick up SR 417 (the tolled beltway around Orlando) to travel east and then south of Orlando to pick up I-4 again west of Kissimmee. Another possibility will be available once the Wekiva Parkway is built (the other half of the beltway around Orlando).

I do have to agree that I-4 running through Altamonte Springs and Downtown Orlando is some of the worst traffic I've ever been in. OBT is not too far behind. Every other hint of a traffic jam I've been in since then just pales in comparison.

301 is the quickest and most direct route from Jacksonville area to Tampa Bay.  301 to SR 326 in Marion County.  But there are the infamous Speed Traps in Lawtey and Waldo.  And Starke is very congested.  There are plans to build a freeway bypass of Starke which will help.  But Jacksonville is growing and eventually 301 will probably be clogged with Walmart, Target and 14 Publix stores in a few years.

If you were driving from the JAX Airport area to southwestern Orlando (say, the Gaylord Palms near Disney to meet relatives) on a Thursday morning the week before Christmas, how would you go? I-95 to I-4 and through Orlando? Take FL-417 around Orlando? US-17 to avoid both? The destination is at the exit after EPCOT when you're heading south on I-4.