Roads you would NOT want on your commute

[JoePCool14]

I'd have to go with I-80/94 (Kingery and Borman Expressways) near Chicago. I know I do not want these roads on my commute because I had them on there for a while. Issues include:

• Heavy traffic at all times of day; you either take the expensive Chicago Skyway, use side streets, drop down to I-74, or take this.
• Orientation in and out of the sun, so you're blinded both ways while working day shifts.
• Frequent construction (and associated delays and driving hazards).
• Excessive speeding... everybody thinks you're driving too slow if you aren't 10 over.
• Trucks illegally using the left two lanes, slowing all traffic to the speed of their governors.
• Bad drivers... you're in Indiana so... yeah.
• Bad memories from having sat in traffic for literally three hours due to an overturned truck.

Good answer. The Borman is almost always a mess.

I'm going to go with what's on the opposite side of Chicagoland: Lake County. Once you get west of I-94, there are effectively no through four lane roads. They stonewalled any expansions in hopes it would stop sprawl. Turns out that didn't work, and now they're stuck with a severely underdeveloped road network.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Most roads in the Boston area.

[MATraveler128]

Most roads in the Boston area.

Mine specifically are US 1 between Boston and Peabody and of course I-93 in Quincy.

[FrCorySticha]

10th Ave S in Great Falls, MT (US 87/US 89/MT 200/MT 3 to I-315) is mostly 3 lanes each direction, and almost impossible to not be stopped by about a dozen stoplights. I avoid this street any time I can, which is easy because GF's street network is an almost perfect grid.

Any time I have to go from I-15 on the west side of GF to somewhere on the east side of the city, it's easier to exit I-15 at Central Ave. W (Exit 280) and go through downtown. 1st Ave N/2nd Ave N are a one-way pair with lights timed for 25 MPH. After downtown, there are only 3-5 more lights depending on how far I need to go.

YES. I drove through Great Falls last year and had this exact experience on 10th. The light at 6th St. SW was particularly horrendous. Unfortunately, I'm trying to clinch US 89, so it had to be driven once. At least I won't have to suffer that again.

Yeah, that particular light is almost guaranteed to be a delay, especially coming from GF to I-315. It's a cause for celebration any time I'm able to get through it without being stopped by it.

My own contribution to this thread is going to be another road in Montana that I drove on that trip, for the same reason: US 93/Reserve Street in Missoula. My theory was that Montana is such a big rural empty state that MDT forgot they might have to hire a traffic engineer or two.

Well, that was the bypass of Missoula. Until Missoula built out that way. There are occasional rumors of another bypass further west, but those who don't want any kind of development in the valley are adamantly opposed to it.

[dgolub]

The Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95) because it's bumper-to-bumper around the clock.

[Rothman]

The Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95) because it's bumper-to-bumper around the clock.

Ah, the couple of times that I've been on it when it was essentially free flow...miraculous.

[MultiMillionMiler]

Actually I was able to go 70 mph on the cross bronx recently on the weekend in the middle of the day. During the weekday, yes it is black-red on googlemaps the whole length, but they also recently repaired it so it has some of the smoothest asphalt in the city now.

[Declan127]

As a Mets fan, I would not want to ever commute via the Van Wyck. There only 4(!) times in my life where I have been on the Van Wyck and not had any traffic, and 3 of those were last year. Tight roadway, always road work, only route for trucks coming from JFK... it gets to the point where a VMS on the overpass at Rockaway Boulevard (the traffic typically starts right when you get in view of this sign) is almost always proclaiming "DELAYS TO (street name, usually MAIN ST)". If anyone's wondering, the stretch of road in question is NB between Exits 1B-2 (usually starts at a small bend in the express lanes and under the exit 2 BGS in the local lanes, about where the mainline loses a lane) and exit 8 (precisely where the ramp leaves).

[SeriesE]

Needing to drive due east in the morning and due west in the afternoon

[GaryV]

Needing to drive due east in the morning and due west in the afternoon

Only in Sept and March.

[triplemultiplex]

For this city, I'm glad I don't have to go downtown if I go to the office, because every few days, someone decides that the morning rush is a great time to slow roll a train through The Isthmus.  With zero grade separations along this railroad, these trains completely snarl traffic.  ALL traffic, not just cars.  Buses get held up, bikes can't get thru (unless they're coming from one or two specific directions and know how to sneak up Monona Terrace.)  It's a huge CF that I would be pulling my hair out if I had to deal with.

[ET21]

Poorly time traffic lights is the worst

For local routes, have to go with the Ike (I-290). I also share the same with JoePCool with Lake Co. Anything off I-94 to the west is a slog of 2 lane roadways

[7/8]

Definitely the 401 heading east into Toronto. It's gotten better with the recent widening through Milton and Mississauga, but still, commuting to Toronto is much worse than anything within Waterloo Region.

But if we want to keep it more local:
- The two-lane Highway 7 between Kitchener and Guelph is very busy. The freeway upgrade of this highway has been moving at a glacial pace, and often gets cancelled/restarted by various governments. I feel like we could've just widened the existing road to 4 lanes and been done with it.
- I've noticed that the loop ramp from 8 west to 7/8 west gets backed up in the evening rush hour.

[webny99]

Definitely the 401 heading east into Toronto. It's gotten better with the recent widening through Milton and Mississauga, but still, commuting to Toronto is much worse than anything within Waterloo Region.

I guess I hadn't been keeping up to date, is the big widening project on the 401 officially finished?

[skluth]

I moved to South County when I moved back to St Louis in 2007 specifically because I wanted to avoid the ugly commutes on I-70 and especially I-64 into the city. (This was also just before the I-64 rebuild.) I also worked south of downtown near the Brewery, and the exit on NB I-55 at Broadway leading almost to the main gate made a South City/County home a no-brainer. I'm sure new hires will not use the same logic as my agency is building a new campus on the St Louis North Side. In fact, I'd guess a lot more new hires will be living in Illinois as commuters can take the Stan Span to the Tucker exit, turn right at the end of the ramp onto Cass and take that wide, underutilized street to the new campus.

[StogieGuy7]

I'd have to go with I-80/94 (Kingery and Borman Expressways) near Chicago. I know I do not want these roads on my commute because I had them on there for a while. Issues include:

• Heavy traffic at all times of day; you either take the expensive Chicago Skyway, use side streets, drop down to I-74, or take this.
• Orientation in and out of the sun, so you're blinded both ways while working day shifts.
• Frequent construction (and associated delays and driving hazards).
• Excessive speeding... everybody thinks you're driving too slow if you aren't 10 over.
• Trucks illegally using the left two lanes, slowing all traffic to the speed of their governors.
• Bad drivers... you're in Indiana so... yeah.
• Bad memories from having sat in traffic for literally three hours due to an overturned truck.

Good answer. The Borman is almost always a mess.

I'm going to go with what's on the opposite side of Chicagoland: Lake County. Once you get west of I-94, there are effectively no through four lane roads. They stonewalled any expansions in hopes it would stop sprawl. Turns out that didn't work, and now they're stuck with a severely underdeveloped road network.

Bumping this up because I so agree with it. The Borman is horrible; and it's basically made to fail because it is one of only two freeways that transport traffic around the south side of Lake Michigan at from this latitude northward to the Canadian border. Not to mention that it travels through the scene of an apocalypse, so there's no real alternate surface streets for you as an alternate to take without worrying about your safety as you drive through Gary.

Lake County is tough to get across, you're so right. Basically a flaw in planning.

Lastly, I nominate the Stevenson Expy. (I-55). What a POS that thing is. It would often take me longer to get from the 294/55 junction to MDW than it took to get from Gurnee to that same junction.

[7/8]

Definitely the 401 heading east into Toronto. It's gotten better with the recent widening through Milton and Mississauga, but still, commuting to Toronto is much worse than anything within Waterloo Region.

I guess I hadn't been keeping up to date, is the big widening project on the 401 officially finished?

Yep, I assume it finished in December based on the article date.
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/10810591-ontario-completes-highway-401-widening-from-milton-to-mississauga/

[webny99]

Definitely the 401 heading east into Toronto. It's gotten better with the recent widening through Milton and Mississauga, but still, commuting to Toronto is much worse than anything within Waterloo Region.

I guess I hadn't been keeping up to date, is the big widening project on the 401 officially finished?

Yep, I assume it finished in December based on the article date.
https://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/10810591-ontario-completes-highway-401-widening-from-milton-to-mississauga/

Great to see. I see there's already some Street View from December on part of it. Hopefully I get a chance to check it out soon!

[Sctvhound]

In Charleston: I-26 eastbound in the AM from Summerville to downtown and pretty much the entire length of I-526 during rush hour. No real alternative routes for 526.

You at least have US 52 (Rivers Avenue) for 26.

All it takes is one accident to foul up the commute for the entire area. At least once a month it takes over an hour to go the 20 or so miles from Summerville. And a couple times a year you have a complete detour that effs up traffic all day.

SM-G998U

[thspfc]

Madison: for a freeway, the Beltline by far. For a surface road, East Washington Ave.

Milwaukee: freeway, I-43 north of downtown. Surface road, Fond du Lac Ave.

[StogieGuy7]

Milwaukee: freeway, I-43 north of downtown. Surface road, Fond du Lac Ave.

Agree, this one is absurd: a 4 lane freeway serving as the only freeway link between a major city and it's north suburbs (and points beyond). That thing is a travesty that appears to be stuck in 1965. I've heard that it's to be widened but unless it's to 8 lanes, it won't be enough.

If that's not bad enough, there's the occasional shooting that takes place on what we can call Milwaukee's answer to the Dan Ryan.

[triplemultiplex]

Agree, this one is absurd: a 4 lane freeway serving as the only freeway link between a major city and it's north suburbs (and points beyond). That thing is a travesty that appears to be stuck in 1965. I've heard that it's to be widened but unless it's to 8 lanes, it won't be enough.

Been under construction for expansion to 6 lanes for over a year.  Though they are starting up in Ozaukee County for some reason.  Probably for staging reasons with the recent project to take out the viaduct over the former railyard by Koss.

Six lanes will be fine when it's all done.  It's the drop from 6 to 4 at Silver Spring that strangles 43.  That and a lack of aux lanes between ramps from North Ave thru Capitol.

If that's not bad enough, there's the occasional shooting that takes place on what we can call Milwaukee's answer to the Dan Ryan.

Oh pul-eease.  That's such bullcrap to be worried about getting shot at on a freeway like that. You'll die a thousand times in a regular old car crash before some stray bullet comes near you driving thru "the ghetto".

[RobbieL2415]

Two roads that come to mind are US 5 in South Windsor and East Windsor, and Buckland Road in South Windsor and Manchester. Both are always busy. Both are underpowered for the amount of traffic that they carry. Both have too many signals.

[JoePCool14]

Agree, this one is absurd: a 4 lane freeway serving as the only freeway link between a major city and it's north suburbs (and points beyond). That thing is a travesty that appears to be stuck in 1965. I've heard that it's to be widened but unless it's to 8 lanes, it won't be enough.

Been under construction for expansion to 6 lanes for over a year.  Though they are starting up in Ozaukee County for some reason.  Probably for staging reasons with the recent project to take out the viaduct over the former railyard by Koss.

Six lanes will be fine when it's all done.  It's the drop from 6 to 4 at Silver Spring that strangles 43.  That and a lack of aux lanes between ramps from North Ave thru Capitol.

If that's not bad enough, there's the occasional shooting that takes place on what we can call Milwaukee's answer to the Dan Ryan.

Oh pul-eease.  That's such bullcrap to be worried about getting shot at on a freeway like that. You'll die a thousand times in a regular old car crash before some stray bullet comes near you driving thru "the ghetto".

While the odds of getting shot at on the road are minimal, it's still a possibility. And sometimes you never know, if you accidentally cut someone off and piss them off enough...

Yes, I-43 is an atrocity north of downtown. It really discourages me from wanting to explore more in that direction. I've considered jumping over to I-41 before just to avoid it.

[StogieGuy7]

Oh pul-eease.  That's such bullcrap to be worried about getting shot at on a freeway like that. You'll die a thousand times in a regular old car crash before some stray bullet comes near you driving thru "the ghetto".

Eh, it's still a road through the worst section of a top 10 homicide rate city and I would avoid it at night - much like the Dan Ryan (ironically sited in a city with a lower homicide rate than Milwaukee).