Traffic in Phoenix is BRUTAL! (2014, home, live)

[youthinkso]

oh no it's not!

55th for congestion in all of North America! Traffic does not exist in the Valley of the Sun.

Updated Tom Tom index.

http://www.tomtom.com/lib/doc/traffi...nualAme-mi.pdf

[PhoenixSomeday]

Yup, I'm really enjoying the lack of traffic here. On Google maps traffic, it's just of sea of green, with a few tiny smidges of yellow, and maybe a microscopic sliver of red in some random place. This reflects my actual experience out on the road pretty well. Back home, half of the map is blood red, with tons of yellow.

There do seem to be a lot of cars on the road both here and at home during certain times, but the difference is that even with all those cars, HERE the traffic is still flowing at 60-70+. Here, "traffic" means driving 60 instead of 80. Back home, lots of cars but it's either a parking lot or it's 15-20 for huge stretches. Also, rush hour back home is easily 3-4 hours in the morning and 4-5 hours at night. Here, I haven't found it to even be worth trying to define. Back home, if you have to run errands during the week, best do it between 11am to 2pm (although there is, annoyingly, a "lunch rush hour"). Outside of that and you're with the traffic. Here, I sometimes do errands during "rush hour" because it doesn't even matter.

To top it all off: 15mpg back home with $4.70 gas, with 23mpg here and $3.60 gas.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by PhoenixSomeday

To top it all off: 15mpg back home with $4.70 gas, with 23mpg here and $3.60 gas.

What country are you from? The highest average price per gallon of regular in the US is in Hawaii at $4.37. The highest price on the mainland is $4.11 in Calfornia.

USA and Canada Current Average Gas Prices By City/State/Province - GasBuddy.com

[new2colo]

Yep, I drove over the 10 on 3rd Street yesterday just after 6 PM and there was absolutely no traffic at all. It looked like a Saturday. I still contend the rush hour here can be somewhat intense, but it is short. Try going 65 on any freeway in LA at 6 PM. It's not happening.

I actually have a coworker who complains daily of how it takes him 40 minutes to go 35 miles. That's an average speed of over 50 MPH. That's not traffic.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by PhoenixSomeday

To top it all off: 15mpg back home with $4.70 gas, with 23mpg here and $3.60 gas.

How does moving to Phoenix improve your miles per gallon? Not doing stop and go so much in traffic? Where were you paying 4.70 for gas? I filled up yesterday for 3.95 in Los Angeles. I'm sure there is some lonely station somewhere in LA that is charging 4.70... maybe?

[PhoenixSomeday]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

How does moving to Phoenix improve your miles per gallon? Not doing stop and go so much in traffic? Where were you paying 4.70 for gas? I filled up yesterday for 3.95 in Los Angeles. I'm sure there is some lonely station somewhere in LA that is charging 4.70... maybe?

Silicon Valley. It was around $4.60-$4.70 at the Chevron by where I lived for the premium my car requires. Although with the Safeway rewards, it was typically lowered by about $0.20/gal. And yes, the mileage is because of no more stop and go. Back home it didn't matter whether it was freeway or city streets, it was all stop and go, regardless. The lights are really close together too. Here, the traffic is always free flowing, whether it's on the freeway or on the city streets, and the traffic lights are usually a mile apart. So with the long distances between lights and with the free flowing traffic, it creates a much better situation for fuel economy.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by PhoenixSomeday

Silicon Valley. It was around $4.60-$4.70 at the Chevron by where I lived for the premium my car requires. Although with the Safeway rewards, it was typically lowered by about $0.20/gal. And yes, the mileage is because of no more stop and go. Back home it didn't matter whether it was freeway or city streets, it was all stop and go, regardless. The lights are really close together too. Here, the traffic is always free flowing, whether it's on the freeway or on the city streets, and the traffic lights are usually a mile apart. So with the long distances between lights and with the free flowing traffic, it creates a much better situation for fuel economy.

Oh yeah definitely. I remember awhile back when it hit $5 for regular in some parts of LA. And even that didn't seem to help traffic.

[KurtAZ]

Weird...heard LA was $4.17 this morning.

Still hate sitting in the car for 45 minutes. One of these days I will work my position back into a work from home.

[Tall Traveler]

I'm shocked every time I drive in Phoenix at how fast and well traffic flows. And the cops just let people drive as fast as they want as far as I could tell.

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

And the cops just let people drive as fast as they want as far as I could tell.

Completely untrue...although I will say they usually won't pull you over unless you are doing 10+ MPH over the posted speed limit or if you are doing something stupid. That being said...they can't be everywhere but they are very focused on traffic stops.