The East Coast traffic thread - where is it the worst? (rental, home)

[kidyankee764]

There's an ongoing thread in the Connecticut forum where residents can sound off on traffic in the southern part of our state. I-95 and the Merritt Parkway (which run parallel from NYC through the northeastern suburbs) are notorious for being congested during rush hour, at 2 pm and sometimes in the middle of the night. The 50 mile stretch between NYC and central Connecticut can often take hours if you don't time it right - but even when you do, you're taking a risk.

Reading that thread brought me over to 'General US' to create this one. Where is traffic the worst on the East Coast? Atlanta? Fort Lauderdale? Jersey Turnpike? Boston? Connecticut? And perhaps we can offer solutions on how to solve gridlock...widen highways, mass transit, double-decker highways, etc.

Of course, "worst" is subjective and everyone will have different opinions. My definition of worst is being held hostage on the highway: unable to get off and take an alternate route, roads around the highway jammed up - perhaps something like this:


Merritt Parkway in New Canaan, CT (north of NYC)


95 in Stamford, CT (also north of NYC)

So, what do you think? What area is a commuter's nightmare? Any solutions?

[BigCityDreamer]

NYC followed by DC.

[kidphilly]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

NYC followed by DC.

Honestly I flip these two on the whole

[tahiti]

you know, i waffle on this. i'm in the NYC metro but the traffic I encounter is nothing like the hell you see on the BQE, etc. My top 3:

1) the old generic "roads leading into NYC" with the Cross Bronx leading the pack.
2) DC. horrendous
3) Connecticut, all but maybe the northeastern portion. merritt, terrible; i-95, forget about it; i-84 from ny state to hartford - just kill me now.

my worst is whatever i'm on in that particular moment.

atlanta is pretty horrifying but i haven't traveled it enough to make a truly informed opinion against those top 3.

orlando is surprisingly awful too.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

NYC followed by DC.

Originally Posted by kidphilly

Honestly I flip these two on the whole

Without a doubt, DC metro has NY metro beat. Northern Virginia and the Beltway in particular. When I moved from Philadelphia to Florida using a rental truck we hit the I-95 and Beltway intersection in Springfield, VA around 2:45pm. Within a couple miles south of there on I-95 traffic slowed to a stop. It took 3 1/2 hours to go 100 miles (to Richmond) and through conversations with stopped motorists on the highway was told this was not unusual most days of the week and that 2:00-2:30 was the cutoff for avoiding it. There was no accident, just traffic volume. I would commit suicide if I had to commute through that daily...unreal.

[Capital Guy]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Without a doubt, DC metro has NY metro beat. Northern Virginia and the Beltway in particular. When I moved from Philadelphia to Florida using a rental truck we hit the I-95 and Beltway intersection in Springfield, VA around 2:45pm. Within a couple miles south of there on I-95 traffic slowed to a stop. It took 3 1/2 hours to go 100 miles (to Richmond) and through conversations with stopped motorists on the highway was told this was not unusual most days of the week and that 2:00-2:30 was the cutoff for avoiding it. There was no accident, just traffic volume. I would commit suicide if I had to commute through that daily...unreal.

3 and a half miles to go 100 miles? Try 2 hours and 45 minutes to go 40 miles in Connecticut. Sorry I lived in Alexandria and CT traffic is horrendous in comparison. It's so terrible that I'm looking into taking a job in SoCal for relief. Yes. I said SoCal. That's how bad CT traffic is.

[BirchBarlow]

I think we can all agree that traffic anywhere in the Bos-Wash Corridor is horrendous compared to anywhere else in the country, even SoCal.

[caphillsea77]

I hate driving through Connecticut with the fire and rage of a thousand suns.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Capital Guy

3 and a half miles to go 100 miles? Try 2 hours and 45 minutes to go 40 miles in Connecticut. Sorry I lived in Alexandria and CT traffic is horrendous in comparison. It's so terrible that I'm looking into taking a job in SoCal for relief. Yes. I said SoCal. That's how bad CT traffic is.

Yeah - you're not lying. The wife drives from Old Greenwich to Branford on Thursdays for work (42 miles via I-95). On an average day, she leaves at 4:45 and arrives home at 7:15ish.

I have yet to see a 60 mile stretch like the one between Manhattan and central Connecticut.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by caphillsea77

I hate driving through Connecticut with the fire and rage of a thousand suns.

that about sums it up. i audibly groan when i know i have to drive in CT.