Christmas traffic

[leonontheroad]

This afternoon was a doozy.  I-95 South was seeing delays pretty much all the way from Springfield to Fredericskburg.  And as if that wasn't enough, the backup extended along the Inner Loop all the way over to the Wilson Bridge and into Maryland.  A combination of shopping traffic (there's 2 major malls along I-95...Springfield Mall and Potomac Mills), crappy weather, and returning-from-Christmas traffic all contributed to the mess.

That stretch is almost ALWAYS bad during the holidays. I had the (dis)pleasure of having to drive that stretch during thanksgiving weekend. We actually stopped in Stafford to shop while it died down.

Anyway, Christmas traffic was really bad in Atlanta. Last week, I was in the process of moving from Kennesaw to Decatur, and I had to get the last of my things, but I couldn't get back up to Kennesaw until 9 o clock that night due to the traffic and congestion on I-75 in Cobb County. I avoided the Lenox Square/Phipps Plaza in Buckhead as much as possible as well.

I went home to Mississippi for the holidays, and while there was no heavy congestion on I-20, traffic was pretty heavy.

[froggie]

Bad again today...Inner Loop backup at the Wilson Bridge again, extending onto 95 South and the radio is reporting that the backup continues most of the way to Richmond.  No weather today, so this is just straight traffic.  Thankfully, the Local Lanes were clear across the WWB so I could get home.

[hbelkins]

The I-95 congestion in this area is one reason God (or the respective state DOTs) created US 1 and US 301.

[shoptb1]

Driving back from Arkansas to Columbus, OH yesterday, I was on I-65N from Nashville to Louisville.  I saw cars at a stand-still for approximately 20 miles (yes, that's right) from south of Elizabethtown (near Sonora) south to past Bonnieville (where you pass from Eastern Time Zone to Central Time Zone).  This section of I-65 is just two-lanes on each side, so I imagine that it's prone to congestion, but this is the longest continuous section of stopped traffic that I've ever seen in this area.  I didn't see any indication of a traffic accident or anything...just stopped traffic.  It was very strange.

[hbelkins]

I think there had been an accident in this area. It was probably just a remnant of the backup from the crash. Right now there's a backup southbound as Kentucky traffic heads to Nashville for UK's football bowl game.

[shoptb1]

I think there had been an accident in this area. It was probably just a remnant of the backup from the crash. Right now there's a backup southbound as Kentucky traffic heads to Nashville for UK's football bowl game.

That's good to know.  A lot of this route has been upgraded to 6-lanes, which moves very well, but the sections that are still 4-lane seem to be prone to a lot of issues.  They must have just cleaned up the accident when I passed; I was really glad I was on the northbound side instead of the southbound side yesterday!

[hbelkins]

There have been a lot of crossover accidents in this area, so cable barriers have been or will be installed along the remaining four-lane stretch until the widening to six lanes is complete.

[froggie]

The I-95 congestion in this area is one reason God (or the respective state DOTs) created US 1 and US 301.

It's not that easy (nevermind that US 1 and US 301 pre-date I-95).

US 1 is stoplight/commercial hell pretty much all the way from the Pentagon to Dumfries, with several other slow-down areas south of there and through Fredericksburg.  When there's trouble on I-95, US 1 is the first place drivers bail to, which means it doesn't last long as a reliever route.  About the only place in Virginia where US 1 is an effective alternative to I-95 is between the south end of Fredericksburg and I-295.

As for US 301, it has a 2-lane toll bridge that is a known bottleneck in its own right, especially on summer weekends.  Not to mention 55 traffic signals between Carmel Church and Bowie, 46 of those on the 37 miles between La Plata and Bowie (that's over 1 a mile)...

[Alex]

Lots of post Christmas and Snowbird traffic on just about every north-south Interstate I took the last two days. Even the snow throughout central Illinois was not cutting down on traffic.

Everyone flocks to the Interstates this time of year; I took US 64 in southern Tennessee and was one of only two cars on it. Took US 331 south from Montgomery and faced very little traffic as compared to the busier than normal I-65...