Atlanta not in top 10 for worst traffic in US. Boston is #1.... (downtown, building)

[NC2ATL60]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

Very true. The awful layout of the Downtown Connector, however, has to be one of the most ridiculous major highway designs in the country.

Very true! I mean it is literally dumping 2 interstate highways, as well as a major state highway into 1 highway, that then snakes through the city. The Georgia DOT is currently working solutions to it, but I believe all they will eventually do is add HOT lanes to it, like they are proposing for parts of I-285.

[BXboi]

Originally Posted by NC2ATL60

Honestly, what major top 15 city doesn't have traffic at rush hour??

Of course rush hour traffic but this is ATL rush hour traffic there is a difference imo anyway....and coming from NYC I've seen insane congestion.

[NOVA_guy]

Originally Posted by NC2ATL60

Honestly, what major top 15 city doesn't have traffic at rush hour??

True but some areas are worse than others. In terms of truly awful, that's reserved for the cities on the list - LA, SF, NYC, Chicago, Seattle, DC and Boston. Everything outside of that is normal rush hour traffic which you can expect from pretty much any city imo.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by stanley-88888888

i'm surprised that bos is worst than the beltway ?

so even after the big-dig and silver-line addition (and soon to be green-line expansion), boston is still the worst ?

I mean the silver line doesn’t extend that far from downtown. As for the big-dig: did it actually add lanes to I-93? My understanding was that it buried the highway without really changing its size. Even if extra lanes were added downtown, the approach to downtown from the north and the south weren’t affected by the big dig and are as bottle-necky as ever.

The green line extension may reduce congestion a little but idk if Somerville residents make up that large of a percentage of daily commuters on 93. It definitely won’t alleviate traffic on the Pike or on 128, which are almost or at least as miserable as 93 during rush hour.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by iAMtheVVALRUS

I mean the silver line doesn’t extend that far from downtown. As for the big-dig: did it actually add lanes to I-93? My understanding was that it buried the highway without really changing its size. Even if extra lanes were added downtown, the approach to downtown from the north and the south weren’t affected by the big dig and are as bottle-necky as ever.

The green line extension may reduce congestion a little but idk if Somerville residents make up that large of a percentage of daily commuters on 93. It definitely won’t alleviate traffic on the Pike or on 128, which are almost or at least as miserable as 93 during rush hour.

The main thing with the big dig is the ramps became regulation so that there was less backup during non-peak hours from the exit ramps back onto the highway.

Also the Mass Pike was extended to the Airport while before the only way to get to East Boston was the Sumner tunnel

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by ATLfromJAX

Don't believe the ATL traffic hype! I never did.

There may be other reasons for ppl not liking Atlanta, but it ain't the traffic.

Boston, NYC, DC, Seattle, and LA ALL have higher traffic congestion. Yet companies and people are still relocating to those cities.

I've driven in Seattle, Austin, LA, and DC at rush hour. And they all are the same or worst than Atlanta.

- Boston (164 hours lost due to congestion) and Washington D.C. (155 hours) ranked as the most congested cities in the United States

- Boston was the only U.S. city included in the top 10 most congested cities worldwide

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-rele...300793672.html

I've driven in every city you've listed here. You may not be wrong actually.

[Turnerbro]

I don't understand why people from Atlanta think they're so special when it comes to having bad traffic. Yeah it's bad but far from the worst. Also most transplants that move from Atlanta come from places like D.C, Boston and Chicago. Which have worse traffic.

[citidata18]

Originally Posted by Arcenal352

Very true. The awful layout of the Downtown Connector, however, has to be one of the most ridiculous major highway designs in the country.

Cincinnati is basically Atlanta Jr. in terms of its connector layout.

I purposely only drive through there at night to avoid that cluster****.

[DavePa]

Originally Posted by Turnerbro

I don't understand why people from Atlanta think they're so special when it comes to having bad traffic. Yeah it's bad but far from the worst. Also most transplants that move from Atlanta come from places like D.C, Boston and Chicago. Which have worse traffic.

Some Northern cites are more compact. But expressways smaller. Those with booming cores especially.... MUST have transit to supplement it. They have no room to widen and expand without removing housing. Some like Chicago. Have parts to most of city expressways. As sunken in varieties. Widening a extreme undertaking. Their battle is IMOROVING TRANSIT BY FAR.

Many booming Sunbelt cities. Have more driving distances, more funneling of traffic thru feeder roads, and have less viable options to get off a expressway, to use neighborhood main-streets. Rush hours by far the worst up North. Sunbelt cities can have it more overall rush-hours or not.

Newer cities in their growth eras. Still have more viable widening options too. Chicago is very Core-Centric. Also one side if the Core is Lake Michigan. No 360° ringing spike of expressways.... like most cities. Some have large rivers with limited bridges to cross etc.

Atlantan's clearly know their own congestion aspects. But they are so funneled onto expressways for most of ther travel needs not to ther CBD's. Much Harder to avoid by going thru neighborhood main-streets of more grid-type cities.

So different cities and issues and obstacles and options available to them. One expects cities with much less people working in cores, like maybe a St Louis, or less topography issues in limitations like a Pittsburgh .... to have smoother commutes.

Luckily some cities Cores are booming in live-in residents, for a much shorter commute without expressways used.

The link last cities by the measured commuting times. Must very close anyway. But waaaay too many not good in wasted time to commute and fuel use in our Nation.

[DAX_]

LA is the worst. Period