Notorious Congested Bridges - 2024 Edition

[ZLoth]

Anyone have their list of notorious congested bridges? Those are the bridges that are extremely out-of-date and where the daily traffic dwarfs the design limits and is congested no matter what time of day. Here is my list to start:

• Dallas, TX: I-30 over Lake Ray Hubbard - Continuously congested. There is construction to expand the number of lanes ongoing at this time.
• Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA: The Portland–Vancouver Highway Bridge/Interstate Bridge/I-5 - Oh, where do we start? The northbound bridge was constructed in 1917, while it's twin southbound bridge was constructed in 1958. It's the rare Interstate bridge (is there any other one) that is also a draw bridge. Plans to construct a new bridge have been met with challenges, plus there is a height restriction due to the nearby Portland airport. It's my belief that the bridge will first fall into the water before a replacement is constructed.
• Sacramento, CA: Folsom Bridge, Hazel Avenue Bridge, Sunrise Bridge, Watt Ave Bridge, and Howe Ave Bridge - One of the nice features of Sacramento, CA is the American River which divides Sacramento. Unfortunately, there are also a limited number of bridges that cross the American River between Folsom and downtown Sacramento, and they are all very congested during rush hour turning a twenty minute journey into a fifty minute slog, especially since US-50 runs a mile or so south of the American River. An additional bridge is badly needed between the Sunrise and Watt Ave bridges, but the NIMBYs...

[Rothman]

What a strangely short list.

[Hunty2022]

I-64/US 60 Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel...

Almost always congested during the summer (mostly eastbound, but westbound's been congested a lot too recently), but now with construction that's widening the world's first Bridge-Tunnel from 4 to 8 lanes.

[wriddle082]

Not really a bridge, but the I-77 causeway that goes over part of Lake Norman in the Cornelius and Davidson, NC areas (north of Charlotte).  It stays congested during most daytime hours.  They added one express lane in each direction nearly 10 years ago, and it remains congested.  The primary alternate route, US 21, is actually multiplexed with 77 through here because I believe 77 was built on top of old 21, so it's of no use here.  The other alternate, NC 115, also stays congested at times.  But to make matters worse, when NCDOT signed the "deal with the devil" with Cintra to have the I-77 Express Lanes built, they agreed to provide no further improvements to add competing free lanes to alternate routes such as US 21 or NC 115.  So they're stuck with this current situation for almost 100 years unless NCDOT pays to get out of the contract with Cintra.

[Bruce]

• Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA: The Portland–Vancouver Highway Bridge/Interstate Bridge/I-5 - Oh, where do we start? The northbound bridge was constructed in 1917, while it's twin southbound bridge was constructed in 1958. It's the rare Interstate bridge (is there any other one) that is also a draw bridge. Plans to construct a new bridge have been met with challenges, plus there is a height restriction due to the nearby Portland airport. It's my belief that the bridge will first fall into the water before a replacement is constructed.

Planning for the new bridge is further along than the last attempt, and there's no real opposition that could hamper it barring another economic meltdown. There were some major rehabilitation projects completed in the past few years that should extend the lifespan well past the projected construction date of 2030.

[Bruce]

Another for the list: the Ship Canal Bridge that carries I-5 between Downtown Seattle and the northern neighborhoods and suburbs. The arc causes traffic to slow down, on top of being in the middle of a major cross-freeway weave and dealing with backups from downtown exits. Southbound traffic is often at a standstill in the afternoons because of the capacity imbalance caused by the express lanes.

Oh and it has unexpected shutdowns for pothole repair on a fairly consistent basis. The whole bridge will be resurfaced in the next few years, but this has had to wait until a critical light rail extension opened just last weekend.

[webny99]

Not really a bridge, but the I-77 causeway that goes over part of Lake Norman in the Cornelius and Davidson, NC areas (north of Charlotte).  It stays congested during most daytime hours.  They added one express lane in each direction nearly 10 years ago, and it remains congested. 

The fact that this stretch has just two general purpose lanes per direction is baffling, borderline bizarre. NCDOT seems to have gone way overboard on the express lane concept here when the priority should have been to provide a sufficient number of regular lanes instead.

[wriddle082]

Not really a bridge, but the I-77 causeway that goes over part of Lake Norman in the Cornelius and Davidson, NC areas (north of Charlotte).  It stays congested during most daytime hours.  They added one express lane in each direction nearly 10 years ago, and it remains congested.

The fact that this stretch has just two general purpose lanes per direction is baffling, borderline bizarre. NCDOT seems to have gone way overboard on the express lane concept here when the priority should have been to provide a sufficient number of regular lanes instead.

At times when I'm going to or from WV or OH for work, if I'm timing it wrong for taking I-77 straight through, I'll take NC 16 north from I-485 in NW Charlotte all the way to I-40 east in Newton, then back to I-77 north (or the reverse going south).  They finally finished four lane widening the rest of NC 16 from Denver to the outskirts of Newton, and there aren't very many traffic lights all things considered, so it's a fairly pleasant route, and sure as heck beats stopped free lanes versus overpriced express lanes.

[epzik8]

Both of the D.C. Capital Beltway's Potomac crossings, though I feel like in more recent years I've heard the Legion more often in traffic reports than the Wilson.

Also another one of WTOP's favorite bridges, the I-95 Occoquan River bridge.

[Bitmapped]

The I-376 Fort Pitt Bridge in Pittsburgh, especially westbound (outbound from downtown). 5 lanes, one with a stop sign, come together at the start of the bridge to form 4 lanes. At the opposite end of the bridge, the two right lanes drop before the two left lanes head into the Fort Pitt Tunnel. Other than late night, it's basically always congested.