Busiest 2-Lane Roads

[slorydn1]

The two lane sections of US-17 in Jones County (soon to be extinct)  and north of New Bern in Craven County for me.

During the summer it can be excruciating being stuck in the beach traffic, and good luck attempting to pass before the next no passing zone.

I second what Max said about US-1 in the Keys, too.I never lived there, but I had been down to Key West several times and yep, it could be brutal.

For the record, the two sections of US-17 that I mentioned before are aprroximately 12,000 (2015 numbers) so they just miss Jake's list.

[sparker]

Surprising that no one's cited any Southern California roads so far!  A few come to mind, gleaned from my time down south in the Inland Empire & high desert:

(1)  CA 138 from east of Palmdale to I-15.  A few passing lanes and 4-lane segments, but mostly still 2-lane.
(2)  CA 76 just west of I-15.  The major "cutoff" from I-15 to Oceanside & Camp Pendleton; planned for expansion but, AFAIK, still a very congested 2 lanes, at least east of A13 (the Fallbrook access road).
(3)  Not a numbered route (yet?) but still a major intraregional access route:  Ramona Expressway from I-215 into San Jacinto.  The western half (west of Lake Perris) has been brought out to a divided 4 lanes, but the eastern portion remains 2 lanes (with easement for 2 more).  This is the northern portion of a long-planned reverse "C" facility around both San Jacinto and Hemet -- anything to take traffic away from CA 74, which is a multilane arterial that is one of the slowest and most congested drives in that neck of the woods.  The southern portion,  the Domengoni Parkway, has been constructed to divided expressway standards and eventually empties out onto I-215 at Menifee (and has been widely considered to be the likely future CA 74 alignment).  It's likely every state route in that area will be realigned in the near future; it wouldn't be surprising to see the Ramona Expressway receive a state designation down the line (something Caltrans doesn't do very often!) -- probably after the entire bypass is deployed.
(4)  US 395 from Adelanto north to CA 58.  Truckers hauling goods from Inland Empire distributors have long used this route to get (via 58) to Northern California as an alternative to traversing the L.A. basin.  Periodic passing lanes, but still a harrowing drive -- particularly on one of the "blind" hills!

[6a]

Still plenty of states we haven't heard from. Do you think anything (besides US-12) in the Midwest can top 10K? 

SR 161 at the Linworth rail crossing in Columbus has 16,600.

[Max Rockatansky]

FL 997, I have no idea what the traffic count is but it is filled with trucks and commuters. 

[english si]

I can think of loads of English S2 roads that are around the 25k mark, but the stand-out ones that top 30k almost all have a third lane (sometimes a bus lane) or fourth lane (S4 is rare). However there's 3 I found about 32k:

• the A24/A27 concurrency at Worthing
  
• the A4440 Worcester bypass over the Severn (being dualled)
  
• the A47 (nee A12) Great Yarmouth bypass from the A149 to the A1243

[Roadsguy]

In Delaware County, PA, the two-lane section of US 322 between US 1 and I-95 maxes out at 27000.

[doorknob60]

I found more data from ACHD (as opposed to ITD) on US-20/26. Just west of Eagle Rd (which is where it drops to 2 lanes+center turn lane), VPD is 26,704. That beats out the ID-44 numbers I had before (and my original estimate of 25,000-30,000 was spot on). From Eagle Rd. to Locust Grove Rd. is already planned to be widened soonish, but not beyond there for now, and counts only drop to 23,000 by Meridian Rd. But it will help the bottleneck at the Eagle Rd. light which is the biggest problem.

Data source (long PDF warning): https://www.achdidaho.org/Documents/Traffic/TrafficCounts.pdf
It's a 2014 number so it's definitely higher now, too.

I guess I'll update the list we had going:
1) sections of CA-1 (~37,000 VPD)
2) sections of MA-12 (~34,800 VPD)
3) sections of (OR, Portland) SE Tacoma St & Sellwood Bridge (~30,000 VPD)
4) sections of WA-522 (~28,000 VPD)
5) sections of ON-6 (CAN) (~27,700 VPD)
6) sections of (ID) US-20/26 (~26,700 VPD)
7) sections of MD-32 (~26,200 VPD) (averaged two numbers)
8) sections of VA-147 (~26,000)
9) sections of (PA) US-30 (~24,000 VPD)
10) sections of (MN) US-12 (~23,100 VPD)
11) sections of CT-10 (~22,900 VPD)
12) sections of NY-31 (~20,400 VPD)
13) sections of MO-76/MO-RA (~20,000 VPD)
13) sections of M-53/M-59 (~20,000 VPD)
15) sections of (DC) Canal Road NW (~17,200 VPD)
16) sections of (WI) US-12/US-18 (~12,500 VPD)

[jakeroot]

^^
Thank you for keeping the list going, doorknob. You may want to change the DC listing. I incorrectly spelled "Canal Road" as "Canad Road"; just in case anyone goes looking for it!

[Flint1979]

Still plenty of states we haven't heard from. Do you think anything (besides US-12) in the Midwest can top 10K? 

SR 161 at the Linworth rail crossing in Columbus has 16,600.

When I said Midwest I was thinking Dakotas/Nebraska/Kansas 

I live in Michigan and we consider Michigan to be a part of the Midwest.

[Bitmapped]

In WV:
- US 119 (Grafton Road) south of Morgantown: 18k
- WV 9 near I-81 by Martinsburg: 22k
- WV 601 in South Charleston: 22k

Including center turn lanes:
- US 19/WV 7 (Beechurst Avenue) in Morgantown: 21k
- US 119 (Mileground Road) northeast of Morgantown: 23k
- WV 7 (Earl Core Road) in Morgantown: 24k

[fillup420]

NC 105 between Boone and Linville. It acts as a less curvy shortcut for US 221. Barely any passing lanes going northbound, so traffic backs up quickly.

[kphoger]

Still plenty of states we haven't heard from. Do you think anything (besides US-12) in the Midwest can top 10K? 

SR 161 at the Linworth rail crossing in Columbus has 16,600.

When I said Midwest I was thinking Dakotas/Nebraska/Kansas 

I live in Michigan and we consider Michigan to be a part of the Midwest.

Should have said "plains states" or something other than the Midwest.  Cincinnati is, after all, the "Queen City of the West."

[slorydn1]

NC 105 between Boone and Linville. It acts as a less curvy shortcut for US 221. Barely any passing lanes going northbound, so traffic backs up quickly.

^yes this^

I was just through there back in June, around dinner time,  and I can concur!

[fillup420]

US 441 through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I once got stuck in a 45 minute queue for a stop sign.

[Rothman]

Heh, then US 30 at Multnomah Falls in Oregon counts, too.

[mapman1071]

US 180 Flagstaff to Vale (Jct AZ 64)

[mapman1071]

AZ 95 Parker to Lake Havasu City
AZ 95 Lake Havasu City to I-40

AZ 64 I-40 (Williams) to Vale then continuing US 180/AZ64 to Tusayan/Grand Canyon South Rim Entrance 

[Max Rockatansky]

AZ 95 Parker to Lake Havasu City
AZ 95 Lake Havasu City to I-40

AZ 64 I-40 (Williams) to Vale then continuing US 180/AZ64 to Tusayan/Grand Canyon South Rim Entrance

No US 60 from Superior to Globe?  I'd say AZ 95 between Parker and Quartzsite is way worse when the RV season kicks in. 

[Revive 755]

A few from Illinois:

* Illinois 62 from east of IL 25 to IL 68:  24,400 (2015)
* Illinois 72 between Randall Road and Sleepy Hollow Road in Kane County:  23,500 (2016)
* Illinois 31 in McHenry County between Charles J. Miller Road and a point north of IL 176:  22,200 (2016)
* Illinois 59 between IL 62/IL 68 and IL 72:  22,300 (2015)
* US 30/Illinois 47 just north of the Kane/Kendall County Line:  20,900 (2016)

[ftballfan]

Some more from Michigan:
US-12 from Textile Rd to US-23 (Ann Arbor area): 26,334
US-31 from Silver Lake Rd to M-37 (Traverse City area): 22,786
M-37 from 76th St to Caledonia (Grand Rapids area): 22,050
M-22 from M-72 to Cherry Bend Rd (Traverse City area): 20,562

[webny99]

In my area, NY 286 is painfully busy, with an AADT of around 20,000 and a nasty lane merge to kick off the two-lane segment.
NY 404 (Ridge Road) has a slightly lower AADT, but the high volume and frequency of stoplights makes the congestion equally bad, if not worse.

[Hurricane Rex]

Speaking of Portland & environs, OR 18 from McMinnville to US 101 north of Lincoln City has to qualify -- particularly on weekends -- as one of the most crowded 2-lane facilities I've come across.  Also, and especially in the summer, OR 6 from US 26 to Tillamook gets pretty congested as well (must be all those PDX cheese-tasters!); to the coast & back can easily be done in a day from metro Portland, so the nearby coast is a prime "day-trip" destination.  OR 18 to Lincoln City gets extremely congested in kite-flying season (that coastal town is renowned for that event). 

I didn't look at the Wilson River Highway (OR 6) or the Salmon River Highway (OR 18) in the ODOT traffic count log. OR 18 has significant four-lane segments, so it'd be difficult to break down where it'd qualify (the most notable spot off the top of my head is between Bus OR 18 and OR 99W, and that won't include the Salem OR 22 traffic).

OR 18/OR 99W Untwinned AADT:
OR 18 to Dundee (out of the 3 miles between, 3/4 of a mile is twinned): ~22,000
In Dundee: ~24000. Max is 26,500. Twinning starts at Dundee. Highest rural 2 laner in Oregon.

OR 22 AADT between OR 18 and OR 223: 9000-11000.

OR 18 AADT:
MP 0-5: ~9000
MP 5-21: ~7000
MP 21-23: ~11,000
MP 23-24 (start of twinned roadway): 17,000
MP 27-34 (some of it twinned, some if it not): ~7500
Sheridan (MP 34) to McMinnville (MP 46): ~14000
End of McMinnville twin (MP 48) to OR 99W (MP 52): ~16,000

OR 6 AADT:
West of Banks: ~4500-6000 AADT.
East of Banks: ~9000 AADT.

Selected sections of US 101 AADT:
Astoria to Seaside: ~16,000
Lincoln City: 15,000 outside of downtown section (downtown and Taft are 4 laned)
Lincoln City to Depoe Bay: ~11,000
Depoe Bay to Newport: ~9100

[webny99]

Did we ever conclude what road is the busiest two-lane in the country?

[jakeroot]

Did we ever conclude what road is the busiest two-lane in the country?

We never were able to get to every state, but from the list we did compile...

1) sections of CA-1 (~37,000 VPD)
2) sections of MA-12 (~34,800 VPD)
3) sections of (OR, Portland) SE Tacoma St & Sellwood Bridge (~30,000 VPD)
4) sections of WA-522 (~28,000 VPD)
5) sections of ON-6 (CAN) (~27,700 VPD)
6) sections of (ID) US-20/26 (~26,700 VPD)
7) sections of MD-32 (~26,200 VPD) (averaged two numbers)
8) sections of VA-147 (~26,000)
9) sections of (PA) US-30 (~24,000 VPD)
10) sections of (MN) US-12 (~23,100 VPD)
11) sections of CT-10 (~22,900 VPD)
12) sections of NY-31 (~20,400 VPD)
13) sections of MO-76/MO-RA (~20,000 VPD)
13) sections of M-53/M-59 (~20,000 VPD)
15) sections of (DC) Canal Road NW (~17,200 VPD)
16) sections of (WI) US-12/US-18 (~12,500 VPD)

[Max Rockatansky]

CA 41 between Fresno and Oakhurst comes to mind after driving it today.  I believe off the top of my head it now has five passing zones, I'm not sure what the traffic count is.  CA 68 west of the Salinas River to CA 1 I believe is over 20,000 vehicles a day.