What not to do at rush hour

[webny99]

What freeways or interchanges should be avoided at rush hour in your area? Edited to add that, obviously, traffic may be hard to avoid in some areas, but are there any delays that are worse than others, or easily avoidable?

Feel free to separate morning and evening.

[kkt]

Um.  I-5.  I-90.  I-405.  WA 405.  WA 99.  WA 522.  I guess that's about it. 

[Max Rockatansky]

-  All of Los Angeles
-  All of San Francisco
-  All of San Diego
-  CA 99 in downtown Fresno
-  CA 152 from Pacheco Pass to US 101

[TheHighwayMan3561]

If the city is >200K, just find somewhere to hang out for a few hours between 3 and 7.

[JJBers]

All of Southern New York and Southwestern Connecticut.

[Bickendan]

I-5. I-84. I-205. I-405. US 26. US 30. OR 217.

[jeffandnicole]

AM: Rt. 42 North; I-295 North; Many county roads

PM: I-76 East; I-295 South; Many county roads

[froggie]

If the city is >200K, just find somewhere to hang out for a few hours between 3 and 7.

You can pretty much wrap up the entire thread in this statement.

[kalvado]

If the city is >200K, just find somewhere to hang out for a few hours between 3 and 7.

You can pretty much wrap up the entire thread in this statement.

A better one:  just find somewhere to hang out with free wi-fi for a few hours between 3 and 7. Once in a while check google maps (or whatever your favorite app is) for traffic status.

[ColossalBlocks]

Memphis.

[Brandon]

Where to start with Chicago between 7 and 9 am and 4 and 6 pm...

The list of areas to go to might be shorter than the list of areas to avoid.

[jeffandnicole]

If the city is >200K, just find somewhere to hang out for a few hours between 3 and 7.

You can pretty much wrap up the entire thread in this statement.

I KNOW I won't be able to move at speed on many urban freeways  But how about some specifics for the routes mentioned? At what point should one grin and bear it vs which delays are avoidable?
What are some ways to avoid the worst delays without leaving the area altogether?

The list of areas to go to might be shorter than the list of areas to avoid.

Let's hear the list of places to go then.

-  All of Los Angeles
-  All of San Francisco
-  All of San Diego

Surely there is at least some freeways that at least move. Which ones, and at what point should I reroute to access them?

Just wondering...when you get to a red light, do you go ballistic?  If you're sitting for 30 seconds, is that any different than sitting for 10 seconds in stop and go traffic?

When I started carpooling, a guy in the carpool was like you - he wanted to keep moving, no matter what.  We were constantly getting home 15 minute later when he drove vs. when I drove.  He would get off an exit from the highway and go numerous traffic lights on 25 mph roads, whereas I stayed on the highway and averaged about 30 mph with no traffic lights.  My route was shorter too.

I know people are frustrated for sitting in traffic.  But I don't get why people will commute for a longer period of time and use more gas driving more miles.  Doesn't make sense.

[jwolfer]

For Jacksonville FL avoid

295 East Beltway between U.S. 1( Philips Hwy)and SR 202(JTB)

Blanding Blvd(SR 21) from south of 295 to Kingsley Ave(SR 224)

LGMS428

[Flint1979]

Basically in Detroit every freeway backs up during rush hours. I-94 and I-75 are probably the heaviest two. I-75 alone is the busiest expressway in the state of Michigan.

[ET21]

Where to start with Chicago between 7 and 9 am and 4 and 6 pm...

The list of areas to go to might be shorter than the list of areas to avoid.

My new commute isn't too bad after I moved. Original: I-294 south during afternoon rush, north during morning. Awful.

New: Golf to Milwaukee to Touhy, 30 mins flat to work. From work, Touhy to Central to Bryn Mawr, hop on the Kennedy from Bryn Mawr at Harlem, nice all the way home. No one takes Bryn Mawr even when the Kennedy is backed up, which is great, and I get on at the point where I-90 opens up going westbound 

[Flint1979]

Where to start with Chicago between 7 and 9 am and 4 and 6 pm...

The list of areas to go to might be shorter than the list of areas to avoid.

My new commute isn't too bad after I moved. Original: I-294 south during afternoon rush, north during morning. Awful.

New: Golf to Milwaukee to Touhy, 30 mins flat to work. From work, Touhy to Central to Bryn Mawr, hop on the Kennedy from Bryn Mawr at Harlem, nice all the way home. No one takes Bryn Mawr even when the Kennedy is backed up, which is great, and I get on at the point where I-90 opens up going westbound 

I would guess that Bryn Mawr being a discontinuous street would be a big reason why no one takes it. I would just assume that all the traffic trying to avoid the Kennedy is on Irving Park.

[Bruce]

Driving, period.

Much more fun to be on a train zipping by the traffic. It's very zen.

[JJBers]

Driving, period.

Much more fun to be on a train zipping by the traffic. It's very zen.

I would say "There are no trains in my area"
But thinking about it for a moment made me realize why.

[Doctor Whom]

In the DC area, do not get your kicks on Rte. 66, Rte. 270, the Beltway between 270 and the 95/Baltimore exit, the Beltway between Alexandria and National Harbor, or 395.

[jakeroot]

In the Seattle area (kkt's jokes aside), the 405 between the 90 and 167 is nuts most of the day. I avoid it like the plague. I-5 from Seattle to Northgate is also a no-go during daytime hours.

Most other freeways have their areas of congestion, but aren't horrid 100% of the day like those two stretches seem to be.



This may not be strictly relevant to this thread (mostly relevant to the post above); I just recorded this video of a commute home from Seattle to Puyallup, WA.

I mostly stick to the freeways, but in the middle of the video, I use several arterials to reach another freeway (versus using a freeway that is perpetually busy), and I switch over to a parallel highway near the end. Both of the non-freeway roads have few signals and high speed limits, so they work as an alternative. I left Seattle around 1500, I got home just after 1600. Not bad for rush hour.

According to GMaps, my drive took 8 minutes longer than using all freeways, based on typical Tuesday afternoon traffic levels. Felt fast to me. I also drive a 6-speed, so I prefer routes that aren't stop and go (crawling speed), because that's annoying in a manual. I prefer being stopped for 30 seconds versus rolling along at 8 mph.

https://youtu.be/4K6fxpfCs18

[texaskdog]

In Austin Mopac (Loop 1) from 183 south to 290 and I-35 are the worst.  US 183 west/north of Mopac as well.  Any downtown street besides Cesar Chavez.

[US 89]

In the Salt Lake City metro: I-15. Especially southbound anywhere between the Spaghetti Bowl (15/80/201) and Lehi in the afternoon. As for surface roads, I wouldn't recommend Redwood south of 215, or any of 72/70th, 90th, 106/104th, 114th, or 123/126th South west of I-15.

[Max Rockatansky]

If the city is >200K, just find somewhere to hang out for a few hours between 3 and 7.

You can pretty much wrap up the entire thread in this statement.

I KNOW I won't be able to move at speed on many urban freeways  But how about some specifics for the routes mentioned? At what point should one grin and bear it vs which delays are avoidable?
What are some ways to avoid the worst delays without leaving the area altogether?

The list of areas to go to might be shorter than the list of areas to avoid.

Let's hear the list of places to go then.

-  All of Los Angeles
-  All of San Francisco
-  All of San Diego

Surely there is at least some freeways that at least move. Which ones, and at what point should I reroute to access them?

In regards to California and the big cities, no there really isn't any alternates.  With San Francisco and San Diego the terrain really funnels everyone into the same corridors and doesn't really give many alternates.  I've used CA 35 to get to the Golden Gate bridge plenty of times but it won't help with downtown San Francisco.  Los Angeles is a cluster f$%& no matter what you take, I used to bail off of I-210 onto Foothill Blvd to CA 110 to reach downtown in a pinch...but that isn't a time saver but rather an exercise in people avoidance.

[jakeroot]

This may not be strictly relevant to this thread (mostly relevant to the post above); I just recorded this video of a commute home from Seattle to Puyallup, WA.

I mostly stick to the freeways, but in the middle of the video, I use several arterials to reach another freeway (versus using a freeway that is perpetually busy), and I switch over to a parallel highway near the end. Both of the non-freeway roads have few signals and high speed limits, so they work as an alternative. I left Seattle around 1500, I got home just after 1600. Not bad for rush hour.

Nice. I deem it relevant  That's the kind of thing I'm looking for. Although 3:00 isn't rush hour around here, I presume being a larger city, and time-wise behind the rest of the US, it certainly would be there 

Rush hour really starts going in the bad places around 1:45 to 2 PM, the morning rush sometimes lasting well into the 10 AM hour. Most freeways start getting busy around 3PM, and start to level off around 6:30PM. I think the summer has the rush hours earlier in the day, due to the earlier sunrise (people waking up earlier).

[sparker]

What not to do?  Around here (San Jose), it's get on any freeway -- period!.  One needs to learn to tool around the surface streets as an alternative (and who knows, you may find a great little taqueria that you didn't know was there!).  Even if you have to traverse 40-50 miles, familiarize yourself with as many alternatives as you can -- and don't depend on GPS; stock up on a shitload of local AAA street maps -- eventually you'll find that while going from point A to point B won't ever be a simple prospect during commute hours, it is doable -- if you budget a bit of time (and take advantage of what you see on the ground along the way).  For example -- I need to go up to Alameda a couple of times a month to work with a vendor on a couple of ongoing projects; the meetings invariably go long, and I have to head back down to San Jose in late afternoon -- just when I-880 becomes a virtual parking lot.  So I've found several alternate routes down the east side of the bay (some using the old original CA 17 surface routing); occasionally I'll drift over to the Niles District in east Fremont to stop by a particular used record shop (I'm a collector of such) to see if they've got anything new in their inventory.  Just realize that you're not going to go anywhere particularly quickly, and do the best you can with the time you need to spend out on the road!