Traffic question - Pittsburgh Area (York, Wilkinsburg: moving, commute, cities)

[gallacus]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I don't envy those who chose to settle in far-flung places like Murrysville or Monroeville and build McMansions while commuting into the city because once the Squirrel Hill Tunnels are reduced to one lane in each direction soon for "improvements" their commutes will be all that more heinous (not that I have any sympathy for them, of course).

This will not happen. One-lane closures will be on nights and weekends only. Rush hour commute will not be affected.

[youngabe]

Traffic is always an interesting topic. I'm not sure what roads some users travel, but traffic around here can be pretty horrendous from 3 - 7 p.m. and even sometimes all day on the weekends, on the Parkways, heading for their respective tunnels.

When I visited Toronto, I found it to be peaceful to drive in, even on their highways. When my friend from Toronto visited Pittsburgh, he hated everything about driving here. I would have to say that just a visit can't quite give a detailed account as to how a city's traffic really is.

Admit it or not, for a city the size of Pittsburgh, the traffic is atrocious. Cleveland, a relatively comparably sized city doesn't experience the highway delays that we do. Just this summer, a friend of mine was coming into town. He called me, pulled off on I-79 above the Parkway West. He said, "There has to be an accident, this looks backed up clear before where you want me to get on the highway." ... Nope, it's normal for the Parkway West to crawl in both directions between Robinson and the tunnels. The Parkway West is routinely voted the 9th most congested interstate in the nation...

INRIX National Traffic Scorecard (http://scorecard.inrix.com/scorecard/Top100Corridors.asp - broken link)

[gallacus]

Originally Posted by youngabe

Traffic is always an interesting topic. I'm not sure what roads some users travel, but traffic around here can be pretty horrendous from 3 - 7 p.m. and even sometimes all day on the weekends, on the Parkways, heading for their respective tunnels.

When I visited Toronto, I found it to be peaceful to drive in, even on their highways. When my friend from Toronto visited Pittsburgh, he hated everything about driving here. I would have to say that just a visit can't quite give a detailed account as to how a city's traffic really is.

Admit it or not, for a city the size of Pittsburgh, the traffic is atrocious. Cleveland, a relatively comparably sized city doesn't experience the highway delays that we do. Just this summer, a friend of mine was coming into town. He called me, pulled off on I-79 above the Parkway West. He said, "There has to be an accident, this looks backed up clear before where you want me to get on the highway." ... Nope, it's normal for the Parkway West to crawl in both directions between Robinson and the tunnels. The Parkway West is routinely voted the 9th most congested interstate in the nation...

INRIX National Traffic Scorecard (http://scorecard.inrix.com/scorecard/Top100Corridors.asp - broken link)

I don't think the traffic in Pittsburgh is bad at all, even during rush hour. A closer inspection of the statistics you posted show why I feel this way. If you notice, the 9th worst road in the country is indeed I-376, as you posted. But the rankings seem to be based on percentages, if not some conglomeration of stuff. Since the sections of road in Pittsburgh that typically back up are very short, this ranking ends up being somewhat skewed. If you look at the ranking based on total minutes of delay during peak traffic, it is ranked 45 nationally. Considering we are the 22nd largest metropolitan area, that's pretty average. I'll take a 13 minute delay during the peak of rush hour any day.

[escilade18]

Originally Posted by gallacus

I don't think the traffic in Pittsburgh is bad at all, even during rush hour. A closer inspection of the statistics you posted show why I feel this way. If you notice, the 9th worst road in the country is indeed I-376, as you posted. But the rankings seem to be based on percentages, if not some conglomeration of stuff. If you look at the ranking based on total minutes of delay during peak traffic, it is number 45 nationally. Considering we are the 22nd largest metropolitan area, that's pretty average. I'll take a 13 minute delay during the peak of rush hour any day.

I would agree it could get worse. My worst experience with traffic would have to be NYC. There was an accident where I80 meets I95 in NJ, took 7 hours to get from I95 to Queens. I would have to say the worst that I have experienced in Pittsburgh would be one hour to get from I79 through the tunnels (usually when there is a game or concert.) I still do say that it can be a pain though

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by gallacus

I don't think the traffic in Pittsburgh is bad at all, even during rush hour. A closer inspection of the statistics you posted show why I feel this way. If you notice, the 9th worst road in the country is indeed I-376, as you posted. But the rankings seem to be based on percentages, if not some conglomeration of stuff. Since the sections of road in Pittsburgh that typically back up are very short, this ranking ends up being somewhat skewed. If you look at the ranking based on total minutes of delay during peak traffic, it is ranked 45 nationally. Considering we are the 22nd largest metropolitan area, that's pretty average. I'll take a 13 minute delay during the peak of rush hour any day.

You must not drive the Parkway East. I have found it can be backed up at any hour or day. There doesn't have to be a game, concert or accident to cause traffic to come to a crawl.

[gallacus]

Originally Posted by villageidiot1

You must not drive the Parkway East. I have found it can be backed up at any hour or day. There doesn't have to be a game, concert or accident to cause traffic to come to a crawl.

I drive it every day, and I don't find it to be very bad at all.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by gallacus

I drive it every day, and I don't find it to be very bad at all.

Are you driving into town or out of town? I worked in Churchill and it's awesome in that direction. Going on though, there was traffic backed up to Monroeville every day.

[gallacus]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Are you driving into town or out of town? I worked in Churchill and it's awesome in that direction. Going on though, there was traffic backed up to Monroeville every day.

I have to keep in mind that this is the same board where I read it takes 15 minutes to get from West Mifflin to Swissvale.

I personally drive out of town, but I see that it's backed up to the Churchill exit every single morning when I pass by at 7:30. The few times I've had to sit in that traffic, going inbound, it took me 30 minutes to get from Churchill to the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. Not bad, in my opinion, for the most congested road in all of Pittsburgh. I've lived in Denver and L.A. and frequently experienced worse traffic jams there during off hours when there was no construction or accidents (more often in L.A.). I also travel to Chicago frequently, and almost always get stuck in obscene traffic around the city. After having experienced that, a 30 min commute from Churchill to the Squirrel Hill Tunnel doesn't seem that bad. Just my opinion.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by gallacus

I personally drive out of town, but I see that it's backed up to the Churchill exit every single morning when I pass by at 7:30. The few times I've had to sit in that traffic, going inbound, it took me 30 minutes to get from Churchill to the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. Not bad, in my opinion, for the most congested road in all of Pittsburgh. I've lived in Denver and L.A. and frequently experienced worse traffic jams there during off hours when there was no construction or accidents (more often in L.A.). I also travel to Chicago frequently, and almost always get stuck in obscene traffic around the city. After having experienced that, a 30 min commute from Churchill to the Squirrel Hill Tunnel doesn't seem that bad. Just my opinion.

Yeah, it's pretty smooth sailing when you're going against the traffic flow in Pittsburgh (as opposed to LA where the traffic flow is in any which direction). For some reason going against the traffic towards Robinson is still Hell though (I worked in Robinson for awhile). However, I personally think 30 minutes for going 1/2 a mile is insanity anywhere on the world, especially in a smaller city like ours.

My fear is that we'll become LA-esque due to the fact that we're close to becoming a fully "car-only" culture with transit cuts, a wave of people moving here, and a topography that's not nearly as spread out. That really would blow.

[NANDOAL]

Originally Posted by gallacus

I drive it every day, and I don't find it to be very bad at all.

I agree. Sometimes It looks worse than it is. Also have many shorts cuts to avoid it. Much of the off rush hour traffic comes from over height trucks. Which the up coming work will hopefully solve.