Interstates and other freeways don't count. Anything from surface streets to expressways counts.
In Danville, my vote goes to US-29 Business/Piney Forest Road between Central Boulevard and the VA-41/Franklin Turnpike intersection. Over half the time it's a damn parking lot with some of the worst drivers I've ever seen in my life. :banghead: The recent opening of a Walmart Neighborhood Market in the Nor-Dan Shopping Center at the corner of Piney Forest Road and Nor-Dan Drive made it even worse. Think Black Friday. :ded: US-58 Business/Riverside Drive also blows, though not quite as bad as Piney Forest Road.
When I lived near Goldsboro NC, US-13/Berkeley Boulevard was the worst, though it should be improved soon due to the current widening project NCDOT is doing on Berkeley Blvd between Royall Avenue and South Drive.
VA 144 east of I-95, easily. Between the mall and traffic heading to Fort Lee, it gets congested in the afternoon quite a bit.
Quote from: Takumi on August 28, 2016, 12:58:39 PM
VA 144 east of I-95, easily. Between the mall and traffic heading to Fort Lee, it gets congested in the afternoon quite a bit.
I would pick VA 10 between US 1/US 301 and I-295 actually though the expansion at SR 732 (Old Stage Rd) has helped alleviate that some.
Around Harrisburg, I would pick PA 230 and US 22 (Cameron St corridor) from Paxton St (intersection always backs up) to Elmerton Ave/Wildwood Park Dr (south end of a US 22 freeway section). This corridor always seems to have heavy traffic around rush hour plus the PA 230 section is mostly undivided leading to many left-turns blocking traffic.
For Kitchener, a road that's getting busier every year is Fairway Rd. More and more houses are being built on the east end of the city near the Grand River, and a few years ago they opened a new bridge connecting Fairway Rd with Kossuth Rd in Cambridge. The new bridge has added a lot more through traffic to the road, since the only other options are going up to Hwy 7 or down to Maple Grove or the 401.
One part that can be stressful is heading NE from King St to River Rd. There's two lanes heading NE, but it functions closer to 1, because the right lane becomes a right turn lane at River Rd and almost everyone wants to continue straight through. So everyone piles into the left lane so they don't get stuck in the right turn lane at River. But of course, cars often need to make a left onto one of the side streets, so people start moving over to the right lane to get around them. The car eventually makes their turn, and now everyone has to merge back into the left lane. This is when you can see lots of aggressive driving!
The best solution would be to take out the parking in the right lane on Fairway NE of River, so the right lane could converted to a through lane. But I guess more parking would need to built somewhere else, and there isn't any room to do so.
ALL of them. :-D
US 206. Spoiler alert: it's the only state maintained road in this town.
In Northern Virginia my guess would be either VA-28, VA-7, or the Fairfax County Parkway. All of them are either being widened currently or are planned to be. Locally in Gainesville, it's US-29 no contest.
US 30. It's always a parking lot thanks to a commercial strip east of town and most of Chambersburg living not far from it. The drivers are always slow, and thanks to new businesses, it's a real white knuckle stretch. Though I'd think VA 10 was worse while staying in the Richmond area.
Highway 68 between the two freeway sections.
A long, two-lane bottleneck that's well-known to local agencies, but wealthy property owners and a restrictive California Coastal Commission have kept it from being properly upgraded. Instead, there have been waves of "intersection improvements" at the various traffic lights, from extra and elongated turn lanes, to restricted turning. What's strange about it too is that it's not one of those where it's crowded in one direction for each rush hour, but it backs up at certain points in different directions at different times of the day. And, instead of upgrading that corridor as they should, it's pushed proposals for new facilities over new ROW, or upgrading other roads that could be, and usually are, used as alternate routes.
CT 10 within a mile either way of I-84. 3 supermarkets, Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond, the whole gamut of fast food restaurants (big 3 burger chains, Taco Bell, KFC, a Subway and Dunkin in both directions, D'Angelo's, and Chic-Fil-A coming soon), casual dining (Chili's, Outback, IHOP, Smashburger, Noodles & Company, Bertucci's, and Panera), and gas stations (including a remaining Hess).
Quote from: noelbotevera on August 28, 2016, 03:38:02 PM
US 30. It's always a parking lot thanks to a commercial strip east of town and most of Chambersburg living not far from it.
Ditto for NW Indiana. It's used as a thru route, but much of the route in Valparaiso is commercial. It only gets worse the farther west you go, and the Southlake Mall area in
Merrillville Hobart is the worst.
Central Avenue (NY 5) and Wolf Road, easily.
In my suburb, I'd say 95th street. For Chicago, well that's a list :-D
Jacksonville Florida metropolitan area the worst congestion on surface street is Blanding Blvd (SR 21) from the 295 West Beltway into Clay County to Kingsley Ave (SR 224).
Not just rush hour but weekends as well
In the Buffalo metro I believe (95% confident) it is Transit Road, NY 78. North south traffic traveling many miles on this trunk road intermix with local traffic causing heavy backlogs along the way. A widening attempted to mitigate these effects a couple years ago. IMO a highway running a couple miles to the east would alleviate the congestion but I don't know for sure.
Niagara Falls Blvd (US 62) and/or Sheridan Dr (NY 324) comes in second.
In Pittsburgh, I would say either Saw Mill Run Blvd. (PA 51) from Lebanon Church Road to the Liberty Tunnels entrance or McKnight Rd. (US 19 Truck) between US 19 and I-279.
Saw Mill Run Blvd. is 4 lanes, however it is narrow and winding due to being in a valley. Being that there is no limited access route from the south at this time, it (along w/ PA 88, US 19, and West Liberty Ave.) funnels most of the commuter traffic from the South Hills area and points beyond. PA 88 (being a significant commuter route in its own right) funnels its traffic onto Saw Mill Run just inside the city limits, adding to the congestion.
McKnight Road is the main commercial strip in the North Hills area (just north of the city proper), plus it is a significant commuter route from McCandless, Wexford and points north. It varies between 4 and 6 lanes and its congestion has led to its nickname of "McKnightmare Road".
Around Houston, the best contenders would probably be Westheimer Rd. near the Galleria and again near Beltway 8, Broadway St. in Pearland by Pearland Town Center, Westpark Dr. between US 59 and Fondren, Hillcroft Dr. near Harwin St., and Bissonnet St. between Montrose and Kirby,
19th Avenue/Route 1 in San Francisco, as far as a surface street in that city is concerned, is consistently busy most days. Freeway-level traffic due to the fact it is the only way to get to the Golden Gate Bridge without passing through the Marina district or Seacliff...and this was the originally planned 280 corridor north of Daly City before the 1950s/1960s freeway revolts led to the Interstate's reroute onto the Southern Freeway.
Gough Street south of Geary is pretty bad at rush hour, as one of several pathways that leads towards the Central Freeway portion of 101. If anything, it's a bit busier then than 101 itself (Van Ness Avenue) southbound!
Geary Boulevard west of Masonic Avenue, due to the density of local storefronts, stoplights, and bus traffic, is pretty heavily traveled all the way up to about 36th Avenue in the Outer Richmond.
Montgomery Street south of California Street can be a parking lot at rush hour, due to the stoplight timing at Post/Market and the fact it is the primary southbound corridor out of the Financial District (and very indirectly towards Interstate 80).
In San Jose, it's pretty much "take your pick"! Heading north out of town, Old Oakland Road gets very congested during the afternoon rush due to locals using it as an alternate to I-880 and I-680 north toward Fremont and Pleasanton. Due west -- that's simple -- Stevens Creek Boulevard. Essentially paralleling I-280, it's the "trip-chain" facility of choice due to the fact that it's an endless commercial strip from central San Jose all the way out to CA 85 in Cupertino -- a constant stream of folks getting on & off 280 to do shopping to & from work. South toward CA 17 heading over the hill to Santa Cruz, it would likely be a tie between Bascom Ave. (east side of the 17 freeway) and Winchester Blvd. (the counterpart on the west side). Like Stevens Creek, they are packed with commercial establishments for "trip-chain" activities -- as well as alternate routes to the always-packed-during-rush-hour 17.
Interesting enough, considering the recent spate of development in the Gilroy-Hollister general area, the two surface streets paralleling US 101, Monterey Highway (old 101) and Santa Teresa Blvd (actually a virtual extension of CA 87) rarely see extreme congestion during peak commute hours, even while the US 101 freeway is often at a standstill. A couple of weeks ago I needed to head down to Gilroy after work to pick up something from one of our tech support folks; I left my office (near Curtner Ave. and CA 87) at 6 pm and got to my destination (right off CA 152, west side of Gilroy) by 6:40. Monterey Road all the way to San Martin, where I cut over to Santa Teresa -- including the signal-every-couple-of-blocks slog through Morgan Hill. And this was not the first time I've had to do a rush-hour trip in that corridor -- with similar results every time. Why that direction has escaped LOS "F" on its major N-S arterials is a mystery to me; I may try to dig up some traffic stats and see how they compare to my experience.
Quote from: sparker on August 28, 2016, 11:37:01 PM
Interesting enough, considering the recent spate of development in the Gilroy-Hollister general area, the two surface streets paralleling US 101, Monterey Highway (old 101) and Santa Teresa Blvd (actually a virtual extension of CA 87) rarely see extreme congestion during peak commute hours, even while the US 101 freeway is often at a standstill. A couple of weeks ago I needed to head down to Gilroy after work to pick up something from one of our tech support folks; I left my office (near Curtner Ave. and CA 87) at 6 pm and got to my destination (right off CA 152, west side of Gilroy) by 6:40. Monterey Road all the way to San Martin, where I cut over to Santa Teresa -- including the signal-every-couple-of-blocks slog through Morgan Hill. And this was not the first time I've had to do a rush-hour trip in that corridor -- with similar results every time. Why that direction has escaped LOS "F" on its major N-S arterials is a mystery to me; I may try to dig up some traffic stats and see how they compare to my experience.
I wonder if people out here simply aren't conditioned to advantage of parallel (often older routing) frontage roads, i.e. Junipero Serra Boulevard in South San Francisco is never busy even when 280 north from 380 to 1 is jammed; Bayshore Boulevard from the Brisbane/South San Francisco city limit up to about Alemany Boulevard is rarely ever more packed than the Bayshore Freeway northbound in the morning (though the segment through the Visitiacion Valley portion of San Francisco is littered with stoplights).
I've found that Bryant Street (former US 40/50) tends to work a tad better than the westernmost 1.5 miles of Interstate 80 when heading out towards the Bay Bridge, even factoring in the ramp traffic.
I'm not in the East Bay enough to know if Mission Boulevard/Route 238 ends up having to take some of the overflow from the Nimitz Freeway. (Not coincidentally, the Mission corridor was planned decades to be a freeway at one point that would have allowed 680/238/580 to be a viable alternate to 880)
In Duluth, it's Superior St. It's "Main Street", lots of stoplights, lots of diagonal parking spaces.
Minneapolis is probably the Hennepin/Lyndale Avenue "duplex" as they cross over the top of I-94 on the Lowry Hill Tunnel.
Probably Maryland Route 24 or U.S. Route 1 Business around the retail hub of Bel Air, Maryland which is about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore. The MD-24/U.S. 1 Business intersection contains the Harford Mall and three other shopping centers.
Quote from: jmd41280 on August 28, 2016, 10:58:19 PM
In Pittsburgh, I would say either Saw Mill Run Blvd. (PA 51) from Lebanon Church Road to the Liberty Tunnels entrance or McKnight Rd. (US 19 Truck) between US 19 and I-279.
Saw Mill Run Blvd. is 4 lanes, however it is narrow and winding due to being in a valley. Being that there is no limited access route from the south at this time, it (along w/ PA 88, US 19, and West Liberty Ave.) funnels most of the commuter traffic from the South Hills area and points beyond. PA 88 (being a significant commuter route in its own right) funnels its traffic onto Saw Mill Run just inside the city limits, adding to the congestion.
McKnight Road is the main commercial strip in the North Hills area (just north of the city proper), plus it is a significant commuter route from McCandless, Wexford and points north. It varies between 4 and 6 lanes and its congestion has led to its nickname of "McKnightmare Road".
That answer kinda surprises me. I thought you'd say Forbes Avenue or Boulevard of the Allies. That place can be a standstill sometimes.
North 27th Street (US 14A) in Spearfish.
Now, most of you'll probably say that South Dakota traffic is three cars at an intersection, and most of the time you'd be right. However, if you hit this road at the wrong time (anytime in the summer really) the traffic gets just as bad as I've seen in some of the big cities I've been through.
Quote from: Buffaboy on August 28, 2016, 10:46:11 PM
In the Buffalo metro I believe (95% confident) it is Transit Road, NY 78. North south traffic traveling many miles on this trunk road intermix with local traffic causing heavy backlogs along the way. A widening attempted to mitigate these effects a couple years ago. IMO a highway running a couple miles to the east would alleviate the congestion but I don't know for sure.
Niagara Falls Blvd (US 62) and/or Sheridan Dr (NY 324) comes in second.
I think there's a road diet proposal for Sheridan (would take a lane from each direction to make bike lanes).
NJ 70, mostly because that's where the interchange for I-295 in town is.
Alexandria, LA - I think our culprit is Jackson St (LA 1208-3), from MacArthur Dr (US 71/167) southwest to LA 488. It is 4 lanes but with no center turning lane so traffic is constantly weaving around drivers turning left. I think most of the traffic lights have left turn signals, but most of the intersecting streets do not in order to turn left onto Jackson.
Quote from: noelbotevera on August 29, 2016, 07:02:39 AMThat answer kinda surprises me. I thought you'd say Forbes Avenue or Boulevard of the Allies. That place can be a standstill sometimes.
I think both of them can be contenders too. Let's throw Library Rd (PA 88) between Bethel Park and PA 51 into the mix too...
In Huntsville, AL, it seems to be the following:
University Drive
Memorial Parkway
Airport Road between Memorial Parkway and Whitesburg Drive
Whitesburg Drive
Zierdt Road
Quote from: TheStranger on August 29, 2016, 02:44:52 AM
I'm not in the East Bay enough to know if Mission Boulevard/Route 238 ends up having to take some of the overflow from the Nimitz Freeway. (Not coincidentally, the Mission corridor was planned decades to be a freeway at one point that would have allowed 680/238/580 to be a viable alternate to 880)
Mission Boulevard/238 has been a major PITA since the reconfiguration in downtown Hayward a few years back; it sees more use as part of a rush-hour "shortcut", with Jackson St. (the east end of CA 92) for traffic coming off the San Mateo Bridge to access EB I-580 (when I-238 is a mess, as is more often than not the case!). 238/Mission just isn't a viable alternative to I-880 any more. The facility parallel to I-880 that bears the brunt of most of the traffic seeking a surface-route alternative is Hesperian Blvd., which was the old CA 17 pre-freeway routing from San Lorenzo south to Union City. It's mostly 6 lanes (shrinking to 4 periodically, primarily south of CA 92), but once in Union City, it can disperse traffic onto Alvarado-Niles road (to get to CA 238 and EB CA 84 through Niles Canyon), Fremont Blvd. (the continuation of the old CA 17 alignment), or continuing south to Newark, where CA 84 west across the Dumbarton bridge can be accessed. I've used this road often -- if you know the territory, you can use surface roads west of I-880 all the way into San Jose with little or no major congestion.
Quote from: vdeane on August 28, 2016, 06:39:42 PM
Central Avenue (NY 5) and Wolf Road, easily.
Hm. Wolf Road's more congested than Washington Ave Ext or New Karner Road between Washington Ave and Central (probably and definitely during the holidays? :D)?
In the North Shore (MA); Route 114 east of 128 (through Peabody & Salem) almost always congested except late at night.
In Toledo, I would say Talmadge Road, Secor Road and Monroe Street (OH-51) would be the busiest. Talmadge and Monroe jam up because of the presence of Franklin Park Mall and all the commercial build-up around that area. Secor Road because of Westgate and all the commercial build-up around that area as well. Lewis Avenue (old US-23) ranks up there too, not because of commercial shops but because it is a major arterial with only two lanes.
Orlando area I would venture to say Semoran Blvd(SR 436). I lived in Seminole county, so not as familiar with daily congestion in other areas of town
Any thoughts from Orlando peeps
In Wakefield, MA. Main Street northbound where it intersects with North Ave is fairly brutal in the AM rush. This is due to both short light timing and the Dunkin Donuts drive thru just south of the intersection, as entering/exiting traffic crosses the northbound lane (side note - drive thrus on arterial streets that are not immediately adjacent to an Interstate/freeway interchange should be outlawed). A close second in the PM rush is Main Street northbound where it intersects with Water Street. Again, short signal timing is the culprit here.
Quote from: roadman on September 01, 2016, 03:16:28 PM
In Wakefield, MA. Main Street northbound where it intersects with North Ave is fairly brutal in the AM rush. This is due to both short light timing and the Dunkin Donuts drive thru just south of the intersection, as entering/exiting traffic crosses the northbound lane (side note - drive thrus on arterial streets that are not immediately adjacent to an Interstate/freeway interchange should be outlawed). A close second in the PM rush is Main Street northbound where it intersects with Water Street. Again, short signal timing is the culprit here.
What do you mean exactly when you say it's due to "short light timing?"
Grand Avenue (US 60) from Phoenix diagonally through Glendale, Peoria, Sun City and so forth.
Quote from: jwolfer on August 31, 2016, 11:09:08 PM
Orlando area I would venture to say Semoran Blvd(SR 436). I lived in Seminole county, so not as familiar with daily congestion in other areas of town
Any thoughts from Orlando peeps
I-4 is worse, of course. However, you have parts of OBT especially at Landstreet Road and Taft- Vineland Road due to the warehouses and industrial facilities that create so much semi traffic that warrants short green signal timing and longer green timings on those other roads.
John Young at Sand Lake Road is a bottleneck because that signal is awkward and needs to be replaced with an interchange that should have been done when JYP was widened two years ago. However, the budget did not allow for it then for some reason. Two days ago I waited for four light changes there going SB on JYP.
Bannister Road (Route W), between the Kansas state line and US 71, as far as southern KC goes. During the evening rush hour, it'll take you about 20-30 minutes to go about 4-5 miles.
Quote from: tradephoric on September 01, 2016, 04:24:50 PM
Quote from: roadman on September 01, 2016, 03:16:28 PM
In Wakefield, MA. Main Street northbound where it intersects with North Ave is fairly brutal in the AM rush. This is due to both short light timing and the Dunkin Donuts drive thru just south of the intersection, as entering/exiting traffic crosses the northbound lane (side note - drive thrus on arterial streets that are not immediately adjacent to an Interstate/freeway interchange should be outlawed). A close second in the PM rush is Main Street northbound where it intersects with Water Street. Again, short signal timing is the culprit here.
What do you mean exactly when you say it's due to "short light timing?"
Short green cycles for Main Street.
Searcy AR
worst: Race St.
2nd worst: Beebe Capps Expressway (Benton Street west to Westgate).
Birmingham: US 280, hands down. Distant runner-up: Lakeshore Parkway/Drive.
In Meridian (and Boise for that matter, though the stretch through Boise isn't as bad), I'd give the title to Eagle Rd. (ID-55). A formerly somewhat rural road, it is now engulfed by suburbia, lots of shopping centers, etc. There's no north-south freeway in the area, so this handles a lot of thru traffic in addition to the local traffic. That said, outside of the peak hours, it has the ability to move along decently well due to its 50-55 MPH speed limit (though traffic flow, particularly south of Fairview Ave, is generally more like 40-45 even off-peak) and decent signal coordination. But hit it at the wrong time, and it's not a fun experience.
In Boone NC, US 421, US 321, and NC 194 all run concurrent through downtown. That road is always stop and go traffic. Also in Boone, NC 105 runs around downtown, but it also has the truck routes of US 221, 321, and 421 on it. There are tons of through-trucks on 105 all the time.
Definitely the Beltline. Fortunately, I don't ride as a passenger on the Beltline very often. There is a DOT study on improving the Beltline, but its still early in the study. Any improvements are likely many years away from being constructed.
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on September 08, 2016, 01:38:44 PM
Definitely the Beltline. Fortunately, I don't ride as a passenger on the Beltline very often. There is a DOT study on improving the Beltline, but its still early in the study. Any improvements are likely many years away from being constructed.
What city?
I would guess Madison, Wisconsin.
As for this list, Indianapolis hasn't been mentioned, but if I were to venture a guess I would say 86th/82nd Street on the north side of Indianapolis. Especially from Meridian Street east past Keystone at the Crossing and Castleton over to I-69.
Most of the streets that either closely parallel or funnel traffic to/from Interstate 5 are lost hopes in terms of congestion relief. In descending order of my personal distate:
Mercer Street. The infamous one-stop exit for the Seattle Center and SLU, as well as those who haven't got the memo that SLU is now a bad bypass option.
Stewart Street. My morning bus makes the slow crawl from the express lanes to the street in about 30 minutes...for a grand total of a half-mile. The recent electrical work for the new substation shutting down one or two lanes during rush hour certainly doesn't help.
Howell Street. Headed back home in the afternoon, this place is a similar nightmare. The peak-only bus lane is in the center of the roadway, so buses have to weave in and out, and also be stuck behind cars who are breaking traffic laws and are rarely pulled over by traffic cops that are too busy directing garage traffic.
5th Avenue. All the cars from the north side of downtown headed to points south and east (on I-90; too cheap to take 520, I guess) cram onto the street and delay inbound buses.
Roosevelt Way. The main north-south drag through central North Seattle (U District, Roosevelt, Maple Leaf) and a popular bypass of I-5 traffic that gets clogged at the slightest hint of a jam. Not fun when the only buses from Northgate to the U District have to use that street.
Also in the Seattle area, Bothell Way is pretty congested. I like to call it Bot-HELL Way, because driving it is so frustrating. The reverse commute is worse than the actual commute, and frankly, the Bothell Freeway as proposed in the 60s really would have been nice to have.
I stayed in Wilson, NC 3 days ago while visiting my old stomping grounds and US-264 Alternate/Raleigh Road Parkway between I-95 and Forest Hills Road gets my vote there, though Wilson in general has less congestion than Goldsboro and Danville.
Seattle. So many congested roads. But to pick:
Mercer St., as has been said already.
Runner ups, NE 45th St between Five Points (the intersection of NE 45th St., Union Bay Place, Mary Gates Drive, and NE 45th Place) and I-5. Okay it's only about a mile and a half, but it often moves just one car length each light phase and there are about 20 lights.
Montlake Blvd, often takes 30 minutes to go a mile from NE 45th St to the Montlake Bridge.
Here are some traffic numbers http://www.crestviewbulletin.com/news/20170414/crestviews-increasing-traffic-causes-accident-surge
Hands down winner in Crestview, FL is FL 85 (Ferdon Blvd) partically between the US 90 jct & the Shoal River bridge. :banghead:
FL 85 is the only continuos north south road thru the city.
The only alternative is Antioch Rd, a 2 lane road thru southern & western neighborhoods with a 35mph speed limit & few left or right turn lanes meaning if someone needs to make a left turn & there's oncoming traffic everyone behind the left turner must stop also.
Lucky lucky me, I live on the far east side of town just off US 90 & have a shortcut that involves 6 neighborhood streets 7 turns & only 2 stops signs. My shortcut is still quicker than going on FL 85 where the norm (NORM!!! :-D) is waiting thru 2 green light cycles before getting thru the intersection :banghead:.
There is city council talk of building a bypass but the city has grown so quickly after the USAF sent a new squadron here that the bypass would have to be so far out of town it wouldnt be convienent.
Quote from: roadman65 on September 01, 2016, 04:46:25 PM
Quote from: jwolfer on August 31, 2016, 11:09:08 PM
Orlando area I would venture to say Semoran Blvd(SR 436). I lived in Seminole county, so not as familiar with daily congestion in other areas of town
Any thoughts from Orlando peeps
I-4 is worse, of course. However, you have parts of OBT especially at Landstreet Road and Taft- Vineland Road due to the warehouses and industrial facilities that create so much semi traffic that warrants short green signal timing and longer green timings on those other roads.
John Young at Sand Lake Road is a bottleneck because that signal is awkward and needs to be replaced with an interchange that should have been done when JYP was widened two years ago. However, the budget did not allow for it then for some reason. Two days ago I waited for four light changes there going SB on JYP.
I-Drive and all the roads around Disney are bad
Metro Los Angeles. Ummm.... tough call, but I think the winner is definitely World Way, the road that goes through the LAX terminal horseshoe.
Quote from: vdeane on August 29, 2016, 12:55:24 PM
Quote from: Buffaboy on August 28, 2016, 10:46:11 PM
In the Buffalo metro I believe (95% confident) it is Transit Road, NY 78. North south traffic traveling many miles on this trunk road intermix with local traffic causing heavy backlogs along the way. A widening attempted to mitigate these effects a couple years ago. IMO a highway running a couple miles to the east would alleviate the congestion but I don't know for sure.
Niagara Falls Blvd (US 62) and/or Sheridan Dr (NY 324) comes in second.
I think there's a road diet proposal for Sheridan (would take a lane from each direction to make bike lanes).
That would make sense west of NY 324. In the eastern portion, well that would be catastrophic.
In my town, without a single traffic light, the answer is easy. VT 30, which is the only numbered highway in town. True congestion only occurs rarely, such as large town-sponsored events in the village center (when it becomes nearly impossible to get from one end of town to the other via 30, only once or twice a year, but us locals who know the back roads CAN get there from here), a particularly spectacular trial at the county courthouse (very rare, and that's more of a parking issue than a congestion issue), and weekends during foliage and ski seasons (lots of through tourist traffic). Of course any emergency event (crash, fire, etc) on 30 will create more issues it would than on any other road in town.
For me it's a toss up between MLK Jr Blvd or US-70 through James City. US-70 is really bad on a Friday afternoon/evening, especially during the summer when everybody and his brother leaves the Triangle to head to the beach.
In Menasha, WI (just south of Appleton), with County P (Racine Road) being closed, everyone takes WI 47 (Appleton Road). WI 47 from WI 114 (Third Street) to just past Ninth Street is two lanes through a residential district. It's not so much congested as just over capacity and handling double the average traffic level. Yesterday going northbound away from this stretch, however, I did see a backup in the southbound far right lane extending two blocks before the 9th St light.
It doesn't help that the design of the intersection is poor going southbound anyway: the left lane splits off and becomes a left turn only lane and the right lane handles through and right-turning traffic.
The speed limit through the entire two-lane section is 25 mph, which nobody follows. When the first 25 sign appears southbound a block before the 9th St light, everyone is still going about 33.
https://goo.gl/maps/ErFTwhz8Y9F2 (https://goo.gl/maps/ErFTwhz8Y9F2) - GSV of Congestion Central, going southbound half a block before the 9th St light. This is half a block past the aforementioned 25 sign.
In all seriousness, though, College Ave (WI 125) and Wisconsin Ave (WI 96) in Grand Chute over by the Fox River Mall can both get pretty bad on weekend afternoons.
Have me thinking about Amherst, MA now as well. I'd guess MA 9 eastward up the hill from Hadley and through Amherst College, but North Pleasant can get congested as well.
The Chicago area has too many to name, so I'll just stick with a few in the NW Suburbs North Cook/South Lake County..
- Lake-Cook Road - Anyone around this area knows the nightmare that is this road. Much of it is only 4 lanes, and it desperately needs to be 6 lanes minimum (though I hear there is a much needed project planned to address one of the worst sections)! Lack of a true East-West Expressway ever built in this area is a major contributing factor (another example of the poor planning that especially plagues South Central Lake County).
- Dundee Road (IL Route 68) - Parallels Lake-Cook Road, just a few miles South... many of the same reasons and issues as with Lake-Cook contribute to this roads congestion... though a little less extreme than Lake-Cook (that's not saying much though). Since this road is IDOT maintained, add in poor stop light coordination, though.
- IL Route 53 through Long Grove - Two lane road that is severely overcapacity. This road should be AT LEAST four lanes the whole distance through Long Grove (reality check Long Grove, you stopped being a rural community about 30-40 years ago). Also, IL Route 83 where it intersects IL Route 53 is really bad, and that should be widened to six lanes with lighting.
- Palatine Road - The stretch through Arlington Heights/Prospect Heights is a joke. It is basically a half finished expressway... essentially it has frontage roads and main lanes, but the intended overpasses were never built, so each intersection has an extra set of stoplights. It's not that the traffic is that extreme, it's the stoplight configuration that leads to overly long waits, and thus creates backups. This could be fixed be just merging the sets of lanes into a more normal six lane boulevard, sort of like what was done near the Rand Road intersection. While, I am at it, I am going to give a "dishonorable" mention to the overcapacity section West of Downtown Palatine.
- Euclid Avenue through Arlington Heights - Much of it is two lanes with a center turn lane, though some parts are only two lanes. This is one that really would be difficult or impossible to widen, just because it passes through some historic neighborhoods. Sadly, the light at Arlington Heights Road is famous for causing a backup at rush hour on this roadway.
I can name several others, but these are a few that I find notoriously congested.
i-69 from 465 to campus parkway, and 465 from 69 down to 70.
nothing in my town though Water St (WIS 80/81 through town gets close because it collects all crosstown traffic and merges it with up and downtown traffic [/NYC momemt] but it's free flowing. The worst aspect is being unable to enter the road or turn left on it. Business 151 comes close to it too - particularly during the commutes.
Dubuque has Central Ave/White Street (US-52) through downtown with some mismatched traffic lights. One light at 22nd and central clogs southbound traffic due to the longer green going the other way. Nothing compared to US 20 (Dodge St) through town which has mis-timed traffic lights that clog traffic in both directions especially on Fridays and weekends. The left turn from Dodge to Locust also backs up considerably due to the not-so-short turn lane resulting in waiting for 3 or more green lights before being able to finally complete the turn (with protected left light). Locust is part of the feeder from 20 to the 61/151 viaduct into Wisconsin and also is the easiest access to downtown.
For the places where I've lived:
Los Angeles - We got some really strong contenders among surface streets. Sunset Blvd (through the Strip especially), Santa Monica Blvd, Hollywood Blvd, and La Cienega Blvd are all really bad. But the worst of the worst has to be Wilshire, especially right around I-405. Imagine a cloverleaf between one of the busiest freeways and busiest surface streets, with all the weaving and other issues that would be present, and add a traffic light for another major street that is parallel to the freeway (Sepulveda Blvd), right in the middle of it all. And Wilshire is 4 lanes in each direction here. The fact that it is also near UCLA certainly compounds the mess.
New York City- Any major street or avenue in Manhattan would qualify. Probably the worst is Broadway approaching Columbus Circle.
Washington DC - So many squares and circles causing jam-ups, how can one determine which is worst? CT Ave near Dupont Circle is probably the worst. In the Montgomery County suburbs, clearly the worst street is MD-355 (Wisconsin/Rockville Pike/Frederick Rd).
isn't geary blvd and broadway in SF bad too?
Contrasting with the other Albany people here, Hoosick Street in Troy. The lane drop just east of the city backs up into Albany County, a distance of about 2 miles. Try getting from the Bridge to Center Brunswick between 2 and 7 PM, I dare you.
Oklahoma City really doesn't have too many that are congested. EK Gaylord(downtown) get's fairly packed during evening rush hour. Lindsey St. in Norman usually has a fair amount of traffic.
In Edmond, 33rd. Broadway, 2nd St.(SH-66), Kelly, and Bryant can get congested at times.
In Oklahoma City proper I wouldn't put these in order, but these are certainly fair contenders
*May Ave. (almost the entire stretch)
*NW Expressway(entire stretch)
*Lincoln BLVD. at rush hour(entire stretch)
*NW 23rd.(I-235 to I-44)
*Penn(Linwood BLVD. to I-44, and Kilpatrick Turnpike to NW150th)
*SW 89th(I-35 to I-44)
*Meridian Ave.
*Reno Ave. during rush hour
I'm not too familiar with south central or eastside including Midwest City and Del City but I've heard it gets fairly congested in those areas sometimes. Keep in mind, pretty much every street I listed would hardly be considered heavy congestion by those from major cities.
In the city I live now(Los Angeles) I would say
*Wilshire(Beverly Hills to 405), Melrose, Santa Monica, Beverly BLVD, Sunset, Hollywood BLVD west of 101, Highland(almost always between Sunset and Franklin), Franklin St., Rodeo Dr., Vermont Ave., La Brea in certain various spots, Westwood BLVD., Ocean Ave.(around SM Pier), Washington BLVD., Pico Ave.
during rush hour the worst imo are
La Brea, 3rd St. Fairfax, Fountain, pretty much all of the canyon roads(Laurel, Beverly Glenn(I live on this right at Mulholland and it is a bitch during rush hour), Coldwater, and Benedict isn't always as bad but doesn't fully cross to the valley) Barham, Hyperion, Lincoln(pretty much from SM all the way to LAX is stop and go every day at certain times), Fairfax, and Los Feliz(at least between I-5 and Franklin). All of these streets flow relatively nice outside of rush hour with a few exceptions.
Most of Wilshire flows fine outside of rush hour other than a few spots which are nightmares. Santa Monica BLVD. is almost always packed in WeHo but will flow smoother going west after you cross Wilshire until you get to the 405. West Side almost always sucks though and usually will take at least an hour to from 101 to 405 anytime at best. I would say the worst areas are UCLA/Westwood, Hollywood BLVD. strip, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, Santa Monica.
A lot of streets like Sunset after you get past Doheny(which is a hilarious name btw), you can fly though and take 10-20mins to the 405, but during rush hour, it might take you closer to an hour. It usually starts backing up around UCLA and then you just sit there and don't move. Ever. :P
Quote from: kkt on September 20, 2016, 04:39:44 PMRunner ups, NE 45th St between Five Points (the intersection of NE 45th St., Union Bay Place, Mary Gates Drive, and NE 45th Place) and I-5. Okay it's only about a mile and a half, but it often moves just one car length each light phase and there are about 20 lights.
Hmmmm... could just be that I'm not usually there during "peak of peak", but relatively speaking, I think the section between 15th and 25th (Montlake) is at least a little less crowded.
I think what happens is west if 15th gets backed up because of I-5, and east of 25th gets backed up because of Montlake. So there's two separate (and really bad) traffic jams in close proximity, but you can usually move fairly quickly between the two of them.
(You can see the same phenomenon on I-5 southbound during the shoulders of peak. You get a traffic jam in the U-District as people try to cross from 45th to 520, then it clears up for a mile until you hit - hopefully not literally - the people trying to cross from 520 to Mercer.)
Quote from: djsekani on September 27, 2016, 11:44:23 PM
Metro Los Angeles. Ummm.... tough call, but I think the winner is definitely World Way, the road that goes through the LAX terminal horseshoe.
After an experience near the Hollywood Bowl a few nights ago, we have a new champion. Highland Avenue between the 101 freeway and Sunset Blvd is officially the biggest traffic cluster of all time not caused by a natural disaster whenever an event is wrapping up at the Bowl.
Routes 132 and 28. Anything south of the Mid Cape is congested especially in summer. Our road-net is stymied by topography so there isn't much by the way of choice. You could go inland via Race Lane and other two lane roads. Hyannis is just so built up that the two lane roads can't handle it.
Quote from: cl94 on October 23, 2016, 11:08:36 PM
Contrasting with the other Albany people here, Hoosick Street in Troy. The lane drop just east of the city backs up into Albany County, a distance of about 2 miles. Try getting from the Bridge to Center Brunswick between 2 and 7 PM, I dare you.
Doesn't help matters that it's one of the only ways east to MA and VT as well.
Palm Canyon Dr from Vista Chino down to Ramon in downtown Palm Springs, parts of CA SR 111 in Palm Desert from Fred Waring Dr to Deep Canyon Dr, intersections like Washington St/Hovley Lane and Date Palm Dr/Ramon Road, as well Washington St/CA SR 111 in La Quinta, and Monroe St/CA SR 111 in Indio not far from a near-vacant shopping mall, but traffic hasn't decreased.
Quote from: kkt on September 20, 2016, 04:39:44 PM
Seattle. So many congested roads. But to pick:
Mercer St., as has been said already.
Runner ups, NE 45th St between Five Points (the intersection of NE 45th St., Union Bay Place, Mary Gates Drive, and NE 45th Place) and I-5. Okay it's only about a mile and a half, but it often moves just one car length each light phase and there are about 20 lights.
Montlake Blvd, often takes 30 minutes to go a mile from NE 45th St to the Montlake Bridge.
Oh yeah, totally agree. Mercer Street has been bad for the past 40 years (that was part of the reason why they wanted to build the Bay Freeway), and I can totally agree that Montlake Blvd and 45th Street are both terrible. (I think there was a reason that the 50th Street Expressway appeared in many freeway plans back in the day) At least WSDOT is planning on twinning the Montlake Bridge as part of the 520 project to make it six lanes, so hopefully that should improve things through there.
Here in Dalton, Georgia, generally the busiest road is Georgia Highway 52 (West Walnut Avenue) all the way down I-75's massive Exit 333. This is constantly congested because it is the biggest exit in the area, and the restaurants and retail go on forever. The most congested intersection, however, is no doubt the North Dalton Bypass (US 41/US 76/GA 3) / Georgia Highway 71 (Cleveland Highway) intersection. This has been called the busiest intersection in north Georgia. All three of these roads are often very congested. All of the roads I have mentioned often have traffic counts of around 30,000 VPD. For comparison, I-75 in Dalton has traffic counts of around 70,000 VPD. Dishonorable mentions for congested roads in Dalton include GA SR 52 on the east side of town (East Walnut Avenue) near Walnut Square Mall, and US 41/US 76/GA SR 3 at I-75's Exit 336 (especially right now as there is currently construction there).
In Bellevue, Ohio it's Main Street (US 20.) Not really all that bad, but there's a lot of through truck traffic on it, making it the most congested in town.
Quote from: TheStranger on August 28, 2016, 11:30:14 PM
19th Avenue/Route 1 in San Francisco, as far as a surface street in that city is concerned, is consistently busy most days. Freeway-level traffic due to the fact it is the only way to get to the Golden Gate Bridge without passing through the Marina district or Seacliff...and this was the originally planned 280 corridor north of Daly City before the 1950s/1960s freeway revolts led to the Interstate's reroute onto the Southern Freeway.
Gough Street south of Geary is pretty bad at rush hour, as one of several pathways that leads towards the Central Freeway portion of 101. If anything, it's a bit busier then than 101 itself (Van Ness Avenue) southbound!
Geary Boulevard west of Masonic Avenue, due to the density of local storefronts, stoplights, and bus traffic, is pretty heavily traveled all the way up to about 36th Avenue in the Outer Richmond.
Montgomery Street south of California Street can be a parking lot at rush hour, due to the stoplight timing at Post/Market and the fact it is the primary southbound corridor out of the Financial District (and very indirectly towards Interstate 80).
King Street near I-280 can be jammed too because of AT&T park and the soon to be Chase Center.
In Tampa, I would say the roads are:
Dale Mabry Hwy.
Hillsborough Ave.
Bruce B. Downs (into New Tampa)
S.R. 60 (into Brandon)
Quote from: ChiMilNet on September 29, 2016, 09:50:16 PM
The Chicago area has too many to name, so I'll just stick with a few in the NW Suburbs North Cook/South Lake County..
- Lake-Cook Road - Anyone around this area knows the nightmare that is this road. Much of it is only 4 lanes, and it desperately needs to be 6 lanes minimum (though I hear there is a much needed project planned to address one of the worst sections)! Lack of a true East-West Expressway ever built in this area is a major contributing factor (another example of the poor planning that especially plagues South Central Lake County).
I have a suggestion for a "half-finished expressway" that plagues SCLC. They call it the "SPUR".
Kinda Fd they crammed all those Mcmansions there.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/41.9687926,-87.9970683//@42.1502747,-87.8897337,2310m/data=!3m1!1e3
US 61 in Cape Girardeau/Scott City, Missouri is an utter clusterfuck has more commercial and suburban environments are being developed.
I-75 in Cincinnati hands-down. It's congested at the Brent Spence Bridge all the time, has constant construction and truck traffic. The Death Hill Area in Covington isn't much better.
Easy. IL 49 from the construction zone north of I- 80 to the Illinois river.
Quote from: inkyatari on March 22, 2017, 10:22:00 AM
Easy. IL 47 from the construction zone north of I- 80 to the Illinois river.
FIFY.
Quote from: Brandon on March 22, 2017, 12:12:52 PM
Quote from: inkyatari on March 22, 2017, 10:22:00 AM
Easy. IL 47 from the construction zone north of I- 80 to the Illinois river.
FIFY.
Oops.
I can't even use the excuse that I was on my phone for that one.
For my area, I would have to say it would be I-77 from exit 25 to exit 36. Even before the I-77 toll lane project got started, it was almost always backed up when I went up to Statesville.
I think a case must be made for CA-14 during rush hour, morning and night. I was heading to Mammoth and made the mistake of getting on the 14 around 5 PM. I moved about three miles in 90 minutes.
Everywhere :banghead: