The Daily Beast lists America's 75 worst commutes

[rawmustard]

The article

So what say ye, you enthusiastic community of roadgeeks? Do you agree with their method of measurement? Anything you see that is glaringly absent. I'll just say that their method of measurement surely seems plausible. Obviously several substandard stretches of highway make the list. As someone who enjoys the study of traffic flow, this is an interesting read.

[mightyace]

I'm not surprised that I-40 in Nashville made it.  It can be bad.

But, I'm surprised that I-65 coming to/from the northern suburbs didn't make it.  That road is generally regarded as worse by us locals.

[froggie]

Do you agree with their method of measurement?

Their method is, at best, flawed, considering the following:

- The "worst part" of #3 hasn't been a problem in over a year (I know...it's my commute route).
- They appear to have limited it to one bottleneck per metropolitan area.  Gets some of the smaller areas some press for their problems, but at the same time you have several metropolitan areas with multiple bottlenecks which get shorted in this article.
- There are two documented bottlenecks in Minneapolis worse than I-494 (their #17).

[Mergingtraffic]

#28 I-91 New Haven @ the I-95 Merge:  
I-91 SB @ the I-95 merge is where 4-lanes merge into one lane each for I-95 NB & I-95 SB.  Most traffic goes onto I-95 SB and THAT is being widened to two lanes for a two-lane interstate to interstate connection.  Part of the larger Q-Bridge project.  I found it wierd that the article quoted CT Governor Rell talking about a rail project that would go up to Springfield while there is a road project that will actually improve the exact location!

www.i95newhaven.com

The article quoted CT Governor Rell as saying a new rail line will take traffic off I-91.  SHe said it will bring new visitors, new business and development and then wouldn't we be back at square one?!?!?!!  That would mean just as much congestion....oh yeah...we have to be politically correct.  The politicians tout mass transit knowing it won't do any good but as long as the "act" like they're doing something.

[corco]

Among roads I've driven on with any frequency, I'd say there's no way you can argue I-5 through Seattle is worse than the Kennedy in Chicago, or even I-5 through Portland. I-25 through Denver is about right, but I'd put that at about the same level as I-5 in Seattle, maybe a tad bit better.

I-84 through Boise ID is a surprising disaster, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that listed. They're working on it though. As for their listing, Boise City is in Oklahoma. Boise is in Idaho

[WillWeaverRVA]

As for #75...reinstating tolls on I-95 in Richmond would be an absolute disaster. There are no decent toll-free alternatives other than I-295 and VA 150 (the latter requires either a toll road or an extremely busy surface road to get to), and not everyone has an E-Z Pass, so we would be talking about unimaginable traffic backups for a city of only 200,000 people.

[froggie]

Cashless tolling, such as what's on ON 407, what's being considered for part of NY 9A, and what's being built on the ICC, would solve that problem.

Nevermind that Richmond already has toll roads, so the "unimaginable traffic backups" argument doesn't really hold water...

[Bickendan]

Portland at #16. I-5 at Delta Park is being addressed; I-5 around Rose Quarter would have been a much better choice.
Or OR 217.

[Revive 755]

The text below #45, I-270 at Dougherty Ferry Road (Exit 8) west of St. Louis, has almost nothing to do with the bottleneck.  The Dorsett interchange, which will be converted to a DDI, is Exit 17  The addition of auxiliary lanes along I-270 south of Dougherty Ferry to help alleviate this bottleneck is so far off the radar that it's not even on the unfunded project wish list for the area.

I'm not sure #58, I-70 in Kansas City at Exit 6, is right either.  MoDOT's website seems to indicate the bottleneck is the lane drop through the I-435 interchange.

[mapman]

I'm surprised that I-880 in California (between San Jose and Oakland) was left off the list -- it's not called the "Nasty Nimitz" for nothing!  

[wandering drive]

100% agree with froggie that I-494 at Lyndale is not the worst bottleneck in the MSP area.
The Crosstown Commons (MN-62 and I-35W) is the most infamous, and then there's I-94 WB at I-35W, and maybe a couple others I'm missing.  WB I-394 at evening rush hour perhaps?
In any case, I wonder if the survey was taken while I-35W was closed in Minneapolis (bridge or Crosstown Commons construction, either one), which would mean that NB traffic on I-35W would head east on I-494, and conversely, a large amount of traffic navigating the tight cloverleaf from WB I-494 to SB I-35W.  Lyndale Avenue is east of the interchange, hence where the worst traffic would be.  Even on one early Saturday morning several months ago, the traffic was difficult.  So the survey might be correct, but only for when it was conducted. 

[andytom]

The Comcast news site will often display these ranking articles by taking the top 20 or 30, puting each rank position on it's own page with an appropriate picture.  The picture for I-5 in Portland was of I-5 SB in north Portland with 'Big Pink' (the US Bankcorp Tower) in the background.  The picture for I-5 in Seattle was of the NB I-5/Seattle BGS hanging off the Morrison Bridge in Portland with 'Big Pink' in the background.

--Andy

[Chris]

Most of those bottlenecks are like half a mile long. Backups are much longer, right?

In the Netherlands, they measure the worst traffic congestion spots by taking the length per minute, and then multiply it with the number of minutes the congestion existed.

So if a 5 mile backup lasts for 10 minutes, and it is 3 miles for another 6 minutes, you'll get (5*10)+(3*6) = 68 mile minutes. a.k.a., the "congestion pressure" is 68 mile minutes.

The worst congestion spot in the Netherlands had 278,930 kilometer minutes of traffic jam in 2008. Of course, another 200,000+ kmmin spot could be 10 miles downstream, so it depends on your commute how many of those spots you'll encounter.

"congestion" is defined as traffic going slower than 30 mph for at least 2 km in a row in the Netherlands.

[leifvanderwall]

I found the list very interesting, especially since it lists I-94 , The Ford Freeway in Detroit. I know the list only talks about the interstates , but I would certainly put SR 50 and SR 483 in the Orlando Metro Area on that list for the state routes. I-90/I-94 freeway in downtown Chicago should have been #1.

[Scott5114]

Surprised I-235 in OKC made the list. I don't think of that as congested normally, especially on the southern section of highway... if anything I'd think the four lane stretch between N.E. 36th and I-44 to be the bottleneck.

Good to see I-44 in Tulsa on there.

[Brandon]

I found the list very interesting, especially since it lists I-94 , The Ford Freeway in Detroit. I know the list only talks about the interstates , but I would certainly put SR 50 and SR 483 in the Orlando Metro Area on that list for the state routes. I-90/I-94 freeway in downtown Chicago should have been #1.

Part of I-90/94 in Chicago was on there at #9, the Kennedy Expressway.  I'm a bit surprised not to see the Ike or the Stevenson.  The Ryan can be bad, but nowhere near as bad as the Ike or the Kennedy.  I was also surprised not to see the Borman Expressway (I-80/94) in NW Indiana.  However, the Kennedy earned its spot the hard way.  Ever try to merge from the suicidal rapid-fire entrance ramps?

[shoptb1]

I am really not surprised to see O'ahu's H1 freeway listed as the second worst in the nation.  Every time I'm on-island, traffic is pretty much at a stand-still between the H201/HI-78 interchange (MM-19) all the way down to the Punahou St interchange (MM-23).  There's really nothing that can be done here unless a big dig is engineered, which wouldn't be worth the money.  At least it's Hawaii, so you've got a great backdrop of the Koolau's to view whilst waiting in traffic.  

[rawmustard]

I found the list very interesting, especially since it lists I-94 , The Ford Freeway in Detroit. I know the list only talks about the interstates , but I would certainly put SR 50 and SR 483 in the Orlando Metro Area on that list for the state routes. I-90/I-94 freeway in downtown Chicago should have been #1.

Actually there are quite a few mentioned that aren't Interstates (two of the first five being segments of US-101). Although looking at it a little more, there are quite a few errors listed (saying I-271 is in Akron, for example).

[Duke87]

#8, I-95, Bridgeport, CT
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 272
Worst bottleneck: Northbound, US 1/Connecticut Ave/Exit 14

Hey, guys? That exit is in Norwalk, not Bridgeport.
Also, northbound exit 14 isn't for US 1/Connecticut Avenue - that's southbound.

But yeah, I-95 in southwestern Connecticut has several little problem points, and is generally prone to random traffic anywhere.

[jdb1234]

I'm not surprised I-65 in Birmingham made the list.  I would have thought the worst bottleneck would have been at I-459.  But the interchange at University Blvd tends to stay backed up for long periods of time during the day.

[njroadhorse]

Why is Interstate 80 in New Jersey not on this list?  Anyone who's experienced this rush hour delight knows the injustice here.  Or for that matter, why is Interstate 78 left off?

[Bickendan]

They didn't mention I-38, the most congested highway never to exist.

[thenetwork]

I have to disagree with the I-25/Denver choice...The Boulder Turnpike (US-36) is consistently far worse in BOTH directions (Between Boulder and I-25) on any given morning due to the combination of Colorado University traffic and Downtown-bound traffic exchanging directions between the AM & PM rushes on a 4-lane highway.

[leifvanderwall]

Part of I-90/94 in Chicago was on there at #9, the Kennedy Expressway.  I'm a bit surprised not to see the Ike or the Stevenson.  The Ryan can be bad, but nowhere near as bad as the Ike or the Kennedy.  I was also surprised not to see the Borman Expressway (I-80/94) in NW Indiana.  However, the Kennedy earned its spot the hard way.  Ever try to merge from the suicidal rapid-fire entrance ramps?

Yep, the Borman is a pretty bad one- I've been on it since I was 4 years old. It seems every year at least a part of I-80/I-94 is on construction. With the improvements and rebuilt overpasses, things have been better but it's still hellacious.

Fixed quote. -DTP

[froggie]

Why is Interstate 80 in New Jersey not on this list?  Anyone who's experienced this rush hour delight knows the injustice here.  Or for that matter, why is Interstate 78 left off?

Because both are in the NYC area and neither one takes a taco to the Cross Bronx.  The article itself notes they only looked at the worst bottleneck in each metropolitan area.