Major cities with no rush hour? (no traffic jams)

[colinstu]

I'm curious. Are there any major cities that feature multiple freeways that no longer suffer congestion during rush hour thanks to redesigns (or build right the first time)?

I must say the redesigned Marquette interchange in Milwaukee has almost achieved this, but slowdowns are beginning to appear. The only places it gets kind of slow is I-43 towards the interchange and I-94 towards madison past the interchange (but this is due to the Stadium interchange etc messing things up).

[ET21]

Once I-25 gets redone in Colorado, that drive from the Springs to at least 470 will be very nice by the looks of it.

[TheStranger]

I don't recall very much in the way of traffic jams in Cleveland on a three-day trip there in 2006, at least 9 AM on a Friday going north on I-71.

[Big John]

Milwaukee still has its problems, particularly on I-43 northbound out of the city.  Still a 4-lane highway built to 50s/60s standards.  And the North Shore surburbs' NIMBYs who block expanding the freeway.

[roadman65]

 I wish that Orlando, FL did not have traffic jams, especially I-4.  Engineers say that it would take a 16 lane freeway to relieve congestion on I-4 with today's traffic counts.

I do not think there is any such place, that I know of, that has the Utophia of traffic unless its a small city.

[Molandfreak]

Before the U.S. 52 freeway, there were no freeways through Rochester, Minnesota; traffic and lights were horrible, slowing down ambulances en route to Mayo Clinic, so something had to be done. Today the freeway rarely, if ever, has traffic jams, and it doesn't force traffic on the little city streets that would otherwise get nothing per se.

[NE2]

Venice, Italy.

[xcellntbuy]

Venice, Italy.

I think that may be topped by Pyongyang, North Korea

[mUtcd33]

Allentown and Bethlehem, PA (if you would consider that metro area a "major" city) rarely has any "true" traffic jams on I-78, and the ones on US-22 are usually caused by road work (I'm looking at you, MacArthur Road  ) or accidents.

[Some_Person]

Allentown and Bethlehem, PA (if you would consider that metro area a "major" city) rarely has any "true" traffic jams on I-78, and the ones on US-22 are usually caused by road work (I'm looking at you, MacArthur Road  ) or accidents.

I second that part about I-78, I drive 78 from Bethlehem to Allentown everyday to go to work, and there's never much congestion at all, even during peak traffic hours. With US 22 though, haven't you ever been in rush hour near Airport Road? It's usually close to standstill traffic every day at some point. Route 22 between the I-78 split and Route 33 is considered the most expensive drive in the area, based on congestion: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/breaking-news/index.ssf/2013/06/route_22_between_interstate_78.html

[Brian556]

I wish that Orlando, FL did not have traffic jams

I couldn't help but notice how horrible the traffic was in Orlando at all hours. Dallas is only congested during morning and evening rush; and that's mostly on the freeways. Orlando's non-freeway congestion was horrible. There are several signalized intersections that need to be converted to interchanges. Also, the arterial street layout is very poor compared to the Dallas area. The SR 535/ I-4 intersection is horrible and there are no good alternatives. Compare this to north Dallas and its suburbs like Plano, which have excellent street grids with tons of options to get around.

I don't remember Orlando traffic being all that bad in the early 90's when I was younger.

[NE2]

The SR 535/ I-4 intersection is horrible and there are no good alternatives.

There will be, for local traffic, in a few months when the first part of Fenton is open: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?way=142225681

[roadman65]

I wish that Orlando, FL did not have traffic jams

I couldn't help but notice how horrible the traffic was in Orlando at all hours. Dallas is only congested during morning and evening rush; and that's mostly on the freeways. Orlando's non-freeway congestion was horrible. There are several signalized intersections that need to be converted to interchanges. Also, the arterial street layout is very poor compared to the Dallas area. The SR 535/ I-4 intersection is horrible and there are no good alternatives. Compare this to north Dallas and its suburbs like Plano, which have excellent street grids with tons of options to get around.

I don't remember Orlando traffic being all that bad in the early 90's when I was younger.

Sprawl!  Orlando is full of it!

Yes, I remember when Orange Blossom Trail was a four lane arterial and believe me traffic moved faster and more efficiently then than now at six lanes.  Just to go from Sand Lake Road to FL 528 takes a very long time and the distance is only a mile.  Also this is in the afternoon before the evening rush hour!  The traffic signal at LandStreet Road fouls everything up because there are a lot of warehouses along that arterial that have many trucks constantly using that street needing special attention, so the light is timed all screwy for Orange Blossom Trail users!  This intersection basically severs the Hunters Creek Area from the Florida Mall as it used to be a lot closer (time wise of course) before the warehouse sprawl along Landstreet.

I hate what our area has become.  No organization and the best roads are the toll roads, except for FL 528 that needs widening from I-4 to the Florida Turnpike.  Oh wait, this section is not tolled!  When I arrived in 1990, there was only Orange Blossom Trail between Orlando and Kissimmee, while John Young Parkway was incomplete at the time.  At the completion of JYP we figured a great relief route would be born, but since then it has been widened to handle our needs and now both roads are  still over capacity!  You would figure that a four lane road widened to six lanes with another arterial nearby also created from nothing into six more lanes would handle traffic increases, but the sprawl of the corridor is still too much for it!

[NE2]

You can always use the Turnpike between Orlando and Kissimmee

[roadman65]

You can always use the Turnpike between Orlando and Kissimmee

You can, but people do not!  Plus Landstreet Road lies between Orlando and the Turnpike.  Landstreet is the hold up for traffic in both directions! 

I wish, though that many would hit the pike, but many do not want to use the Osceola Parkway or US 192 to get back over to Kissimmee.  If you suggest it to someone living in Poinciana or Solovida, they will think your crazy as the Turnpike veers to the SE and those places are SW, so the Turnpike does not help there.  I live near Hunters Creek and that drive is horrible!  JYP will get better now that road is being widened from 528 to the Turnpike overpass, and terrific progress has been made at Sandlake Road now that all lanes are open there.  Now they can work on the rest and I am sure that will help until the next building boom takes over.

[NE2]

Plus Landstreet Road lies between Orlando and the Turnpike.  Landstreet is the hold up for traffic in both directions!

Huh? Take I-4 to the Turnpike.

[Brian556]

Something that annoys me is when a signalized intersection is congested, only one or two directions are congested, and the other approaches are congestion free. I wish they would re-time some of these signals to equally distribute congestion and make things more fair. Or, in some instances, it would be better for the signal timing to favor the major street. 

Take SR 535/ World Center Drive for example. SB SR 535 took multiple cycles to get through, but World Center Drive had far less congestion. Needs to be more equally distributed.

This really irks me when the more important road is congested, but a less important side street gets congestion-free service.

OBT is more important than Landstreet. The signal should be timed to favor OBT. Let the Landstreet trucks sit through more than one cycle since they are appearenty the cause of the problem.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

I'm curious. Are there any major cities that feature multiple freeways that no longer suffer congestion during rush hour thanks to redesigns (or build right the first time)

I once heard from the former head of the Baton Rouge regional MPO that the traffic analysts working in Shreveport were hard pressed to find any Level of Service worse that "C" in their region. Sort of figures when you have a freeway system consisting of two mainline interstates and a three-quarters loop for an urban region of around 450K (not to mention future planned and u/c interstates) that puts larger cities in Louisiana to shame.

I do find that the recently completed I-10 and I-12 widenings in BR have improved rush hour traffic flow in those corridors, especially I-10. However, traffic growth along those routes should only continue to increase, so I can't see that lasting forever, not to mention that it does nothing for the real bottleneck in BR (I-10 between 110 and 12) And I-12 does still see evening backups related to traffic merging at the Airline Highway cloverleaf (I'll say it again, apparently Louisiana drivers just do not know how to properly merge onto a freeway).

[roadman65]

Something that annoys me is when a signalized intersection is congested, only one or two directions are congested, and the other approaches are congestion free. I wish they would re-time some of these signals to equally distribute congestion and make things more fair. Or, in some instances, it would be better for the signal timing to favor the major street. 

Take SR 535/ World Center Drive for example. SB SR 535 took multiple cycles to get through, but World Center Drive had far less congestion. Needs to be more equally distributed.

This really irks me when the more important road is congested, but a less important side street gets congestion-free service.

OBT is more important than Landstreet. The signal should be timed to favor OBT. Let the Landstreet trucks sit through more than one cycle since they are appearenty the cause of the problem.

Oakridge Road is just as bad.  Sometimes you wait two light changes for that street, when only a few cars pass on Oakridge pass through that intersection.

I like the John Young & Silver Star intersection where all four directions of traffic are held at a checkmate because a left turn signal on one of the street corners is malfunctioning and defaulting to full max time. Of course this is quite common in Orlando with a detector loop not operating properly all too common.  Since they messed up the phases with the left turn signals changing by sequence from times of day, I have noticed more cars at an intersection standing idle than before.

As far as Landstreet Road goes, I agree 100 percent with you!  It is not the fault of commuters who have been using OBT for years to go to work to make a living, because some rich developers decide to build warehouses along a once rural roadway and clog up the nearby roads and having us taxpayers have to pay for their greed.  Even near Universal Studios I think that Universal Studios should be paying to change both the Kirkman/ Major and Kirkman/ Vineland intersections to interchanges as it is because of them that local traffic is suffering to go through on Kirkman because both of those intersections have long wait times.  The Major Boulevard intersection  has many pedestrians from the nearby hotels saving on parking fees at the theme parks crossing the already busy Kirkman Road which needs 45 seconds extra time for them to make it across.  Then Vineland is a heavily used roadway because of Universal and the nearby Millenia Complex. I am sure you know that you can get nailed at all three traffic lights between I-4 and Conroy waiting the full length each time, which I have and its no fun.

Bottom line is that if the trucks have to get stuck in traffic on Landstreet Road then let em!  The companies made their bed when they sprawled out, and now let them sleep in it!  Many of us citizens have been here first long before these companies were and we should not have to wait in long lines just to get through a simple intersection!  Heck, you can cross Sandlake Road easier and that road has far more traffic than Landstreet Road does!

[Brian556]

Thank you, roadman 65.

Looks like World Center Dr/ SR 535 at least has plenty of space for an interchange. As for the others, as I always say, they should use immenent domain and take what they need to build interchanges.

It also looks like a good part of the problem is that the controlled access highway layout is not good. Dallas is way better in that regard.

Something I noticed....it looks like almost all signals in that area are still using loops. You would think an area as economically well off as Orlando would have more advanced detection systems, which could help move traffic better. I live in a suburb of Dallas, and almost all of our signals are now equipped with image detection.

One time I was trying to take a pic of an intersection with the light green by stepping out after the last car in line, but couldn't because they light would turn red after the last vehicle passed. If only Orlando's signals worked that way...

[roadman65]

Well, you are right about maybe bringing immenent domain into the situation on Orlando's OBT as the development in that area is a bunch of failed businesses, especially on the corners of that intersection. One business in particular is that effieciany apartments that were a Days Inn long before the decline of that area which now is home to the Hookers that walk that stretch of OBT.  Also that phone store on the SW corner is a former Exxon station, and I cannot tell you how many times the hotel on the NW corner has been bought out and under new management in the 20 years I have resided here.

Its ironic thing is that before OBT was made six lanes, there was no sidewalks south of Holden Avenue on the Trail that are the very same sidewalks that the prostitutes are now using.  Part of the reason why the sidewalks were added along with the extra traffic lanes, the ugly green trusses for stoplights, and removal of overhead utilities is to make the road more appealing and rid it of its bad name and, of course one of them is the prostitution.

Orlando has the worst signal timings and controls around and we could have so much less traffic jams if only they would update and use new tax dollars from new developers to pay for the upgrades.

[Brian556]

Yeah, the signal trusses are ugly and just create more visual clutter.

What percentage of Orlando's traffic problem do you think is bad signal timing vs excessice volume?

[Rick Powell]

I'm curious. Are there any major cities that feature multiple freeways that no longer suffer congestion during rush hour thanks to redesigns (or build right the first time)?

I must say the redesigned Marquette interchange in Milwaukee has almost achieved this, but slowdowns are beginning to appear. The only places it gets kind of slow is I-43 towards the interchange and I-94 towards madison past the interchange (but this is due to the Stadium interchange etc messing things up).

When we were in Las Vegas last December, I don't recall any problems getting around town at any time of the day...occasional mini-jams along the strip, but we didn't spend a whole lot of time in that area.  There are lots of 5- and 7-lane crosstown arterials that speed things up, and the 15 and 215 freeways.  Maybe it was the time of year. 

[roadman65]

Yeah, the signal trusses are ugly and just create more visual clutter.

What percentage of Orlando's traffic problem do you think is bad signal timing vs excessice volume?

I would say that it is 50/50.  We have bad signal timings for sure, but we also have increasing volume do to retroactive thinking.  The 90's widening of OBT was actually for the 70s volume and the 90's volume has not been taken care of as of yet. We are so far behind its not even funny!  Once in a while though they do think ahead like the FL 417/ Boggy Creek Road interchange reconfiguration project that is not needed now, but later on when Lake Nona hits its peak, we will be somewhat ready for increased cars and trucks.

[PurdueBill]

I don't recall very much in the way of traffic jams in Cleveland on a three-day trip there in 2006, at least 9 AM on a Friday going north on I-71.

Cleveland can either be pretty congestion-free or a disaster; sometimes the traffic reports describe tons of problems and some days everything is moving pretty fine.  Dead Man's Curve, the I-271/I-480 flirtation and nearby areas, and some of the areas around the new Innerbelt bridge work are often problematic.  As seen in the Drew Carey Show's opening with Five O'Clock World, I-71 isn't usually too bad.