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Old 06-04-2008, 10:08 AM
 
746 posts, read 3,726,767 times
Reputation: 257

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I find that hard to believe. Dallas is beyond awful, and Chicago has 2-3 mile back-ups throughout much of the year, as they are always working on the roads. Yet, Forbes says that Houston still trumps the Windy City and the Big D per traffic congestion.
What gives? I have never been to Houston, and am curious as to whether Forbes is off the mark here. Is Houston's metro traffic so bad that it eclipses Chicago's? I've lived and breathed(cough cough) Chicagos' traffic for years, and couldn't imagine anything worse....if Houston's traffic is really that bad, I truly feel for you poor Houstonites!

http://blog.kir.com/archives/images/Houston_traffic.jpg (broken link)

http://img.slate.com/media/1/123125/...fficJam_tn.jpg

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/55743756.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1 939847EC77F5F8D1CE52B4DECBE5F88F4AA40A659CEC4C8CB6 (broken link)

http://is.rice.edu/~moye/rita/traffic.jpg

http://images.harc.edu/Projects/Tran...tonTraffic.jpg
http://www.lightrailnow.org/images/h...0021228-br.jpg
http://1houston.net/HoustonMaps/t_HoustonTrafficMap.jpg (broken link)

Last edited by BstYet2Be; 11-25-2008 at 01:15 PM.. Reason: chng'd copyrighted pics to links - folks, if they're not your pics, they are most likely copyrighted! Per ToS, post links
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Old 06-04-2008, 10:33 AM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 12,257,268 times
Reputation: 2848
Probably not enough Houston experience to truly qualify but when we visited for 3 days last month the Suburb to suburb 5PM traffic in Houston was a cakewalk compared to Chicago. Texas is FAR better at expanding highway capacity quickly vs. Illinois/Chicago. The vaunted public trans. in Chi. does not exist for suburb to suburb driving, only in and out of downtown.
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Old 06-04-2008, 10:37 AM
 
746 posts, read 3,726,767 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cubssoxfan View Post
Probably not enough Houston experience to truly qualify but when we visited for 3 days last month the Suburb to suburb 5PM traffic in Houston was a cakewalk compared to Chicago. Texas is FAR better at expanding highway capacity quickly vs. Illinois/Chicago. The vaunted public trans. in Chi. does not exist for suburb to suburb driving, only in and out of downtown.
True, which is why the radial shaped Tri-state is the only way to get around sub to sub........I still think Chicago has to be the worst in the USA. Can't believe Houston could beat it.
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Old 06-04-2008, 10:50 AM
cla
 
898 posts, read 3,307,344 times
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This article citing Forbes, ranks Dallas well above Houston.. I guess the numbers also depend on exactly what they are using to determine the worst. If they are using amount of time it takes to get to work (as mentioned in the link), then Houston is at a disadvantage just because the area is so spread out. Many drive 40 miles one way, so it's going to take a while no matter how many cars are on the road.

Forbes: Atlanta traffic the worst in America - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

I also found a forbes article that ranked the 12 worst interchanges and Houston I-610 and I-10 made the 2nd worst, ahead of Chicago. That I find easy to believe, especially with all of the I-10 construction.

America's Worst Traffic Traps - Forbes.com

Last edited by cla; 06-04-2008 at 10:59 AM..
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Old 06-04-2008, 11:00 AM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,693,271 times
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Depends on what side of town you live on. Dallas & Houston are pretty similar, both with impressive freeway systems & terrible construction bottlenecks.

I didn't experience bad traffic in Chicago except in the downtown streets. They may be ranked better because people there actually know how to keep moving, unlike in Houston (and Texas in general). Lots of people there live 30-40 miles out, too.

No traffic is worse than in the LA area, though. You'd have to pay me a lot of dough to put up with that long-term. I can take 3 hrs/day of flying, but not crawling.
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Old 06-04-2008, 11:46 AM
 
746 posts, read 3,726,767 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
Depends on what side of town you live on. Dallas & Houston are pretty similar, both with impressive freeway systems & terrible construction bottlenecks.

I didn't experience bad traffic in Chicago except in the downtown streets. They may be ranked better because people there actually know how to keep moving, unlike in Houston (and Texas in general). Lots of people there live 30-40 miles out, too.

No traffic is worse than in the LA area, though. You'd have to pay me a lot of dough to put up with that long-term. I can take 3 hrs/day of flying, but not crawling.
I think it depends on how many people refuse to brake, until they create their own bottleneck, or brake too often, doing the same....there is a happy, perfect middle ground, but it depends on the vast majority maintaining that middle ground..when too many people brake too often, or not enough, you have bottlenecks.....

I still wonder what 5-8 dollar gas will do to all these sprawling metros like Houston....only time will tell......then again, they MAKE the gas, so maybe they have a leg up on the other cities....
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Old 11-25-2008, 12:01 PM
 
756 posts, read 1,882,002 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
Depends on what side of town you live on. Dallas & Houston are pretty similar, both with impressive freeway systems & terrible construction bottlenecks.

I didn't experience bad traffic in Chicago except in the downtown streets. They may be ranked better because people there actually know how to keep moving, unlike in Houston (and Texas in general). Lots of people there live 30-40 miles out, too.

No traffic is worse than in the LA area, though. You'd have to pay me a lot of dough to put up with that long-term. I can take 3 hrs/day of flying, but not crawling.
You are way off your mark with your "keep moving" comment. For one, Houston has skywalks and a tunnel system that connects all of downtown so there are no people walking around during rush hour at street level. Second, Chicago people DO KNOW HOW to keep moving. They are out on the street before the light turns green and still crossing it when the light has turned red. That is why the traffic is so bad, they don't know how to distinguish the colors of the lights. Houston traffic is generally pretty bad going south or west, especially west. Going east or north is not as bad, and east is unusually light.
Perhaps you were thinking of Dallas with that silly comment.
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Old 11-25-2008, 12:19 PM
 
Location: Upper East Side of Texas
12,498 posts, read 26,979,445 times
Reputation: 4890
http://blog.kir.com/archives/images/Houston_traffic.jpg (broken link)

LMFAO @ Forbes using traffic pics of Houston in the late 80's-early 90's. Goes to show how credible they are...

Last edited by BstYet2Be; 11-25-2008 at 01:17 PM.. Reason: chng'd copyrighted pic to link - links only folks for copyrighted pics
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Old 11-25-2008, 12:56 PM
 
Location: San Antonio-Westover Hills
6,884 posts, read 20,401,094 times
Reputation: 5176
Well, if we were, we're not anymore. The biggest traffic generator is now dead--the widening of I-10 is complete and it is SA-WEET!

Now we just have to work on 59S and 290. Yikes.

Hello, Grand Parkway!
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Old 11-25-2008, 01:54 PM
 
Location: Upper East Side of Texas
12,498 posts, read 26,979,445 times
Reputation: 4890
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mom2Feebs View Post
Well, if we were, we're not anymore. The biggest traffic generator is now dead--the widening of I-10 is complete and it is SA-WEET!

Now we just have to work on 59S and 290. Yikes.

Hello, Grand Parkway!
Lets not forget the widening of I-45 & its feeder roads on the north side from The Woodlands to Conroe.

Traffic sure is terrible there now with all the construction, but once completed it will help alleviate congestion a lot.
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