Traffic in STL? (St. Louis, St. Peters, Chesterfield: live in, vs., mall)

[MDtoMO]

I am involved in a friendly debate about traffic in STL. I am most likely moving in the next few weeks - months, but neither person involved has recently been to the city. One party claims that there is little to no congestion and that one can drive freely wherever, whenever with no concerns about traffic. The other party claims that, being a major city, STL will at least have some kind of rush hour.

Anyone care to comment? I am coming from the DC area, for reference. Clearly STL traffic can't be that bad, relatively speaking. How careful do you need to be when planning trips within the city? How long does rush hour last and which areas of town do you need to avoid during those peak times? And, by 'rush hour' do we mean waiting through an extra light or two or do we mean sitting on the highway/major road for an extra 30-60+ min?

[moorlander]

Yes there is traffic but not like some other major cities. If you're driving into the city in the morning or driving out at night expect delays. 270 is gridlock going north in the am and south in the pm. (just to name a few). St. Louis is no cowtown, we have traffic, but it's nothing like Chicago, Atlanta, or Austin. And of course there are always delays crossing bridges. If you move to tower grove you shouldn't be too effected.
The public transit system is pretty good too.

[slengel]

coming to st. louis from the east coast, the traffic here is not nearly as overwhelming as what i was used to. however, don't be naive to think that it doesn't exist. rush hour is no cakewalk, that's for sure. between 7am-9am and 4pm-6pm, tack on an extra 30-50 minutes to your commute if you live in the suburbs. within the city itself it's not so bad due to the relatively short distances.

[MDtoMO]

Gotca. Thanks... Moorlander, I don't think it was so much thinking of St. Louis as cowtown as much as thinking of it as some kind of utopia . It sounds like traffic is still on the radar but not quite the nightmare that is DC rush hour.

[billiken]

There is a rush hour. I commute about 10 miles to downtown, and I might add about 5-10 minutes to my expected travel time, depending on what highway I'm using. 40 tends to slow down a lot more than 44.

[DespicableMe]

270 North between Page and Olive in the AM and PM.
64 near Kingshighway to McCausland in the PM.
64 from 270 intersection to Chesterfield in the AM & PM.
270 South between Olive and Daugherty Ferry rd in the PM are big hassles.
I'm sure there's issues near downtown and I-70 in the rush hours.
I-44 is pretty much flowing all the time.

[OneCoolDude2010]

Most of the time traffic is no problem in st louis but there are pockets that are regularly congested at certain times of the day. Locals learn work arounds like turning an exit or two a head and taking side roads.

[zoomzoom3]

Not bad?!?!

I used to commute on 70 in the evenings from Earth City to O'Fallon & the only highway I can think of that was more congested is LA's 405.

It just depends on what roads you travel. 64 & 270 are pretty bad, but 44 has relatively light traffic.

[aragx6]

270 is the only of the highways with what I would consider really wretched, "big city" traffic, though zoomzoom is correct that 70, especially out near Mid Rivers Mall Dr. in St. Peters gets pretty rough as well.

There are two major differences in St. Louis' traffic vs. a major city's. The first being that reverse commutes do exist here. It is much esaier to head out of the city and into the suburbs here as opposed to Chicago, where often the outbound was almost as bad as the inbound. St. Louis' rush hour is shorter than the other major cities I have driven in, and unlike Chicago, you'll rarely hit any traffic on the weekends unless it's a major holiday or sporting event.

It's also worth mentioning that traffic in the downtown area (surface streets and highways) gets iffy when there are night Cardinals games -- especially Friday night games.

[PrairieStateofMind]

Most days the traffic isn't bad in St. Louis. However, on a morning like today, where there are several accidents, you can run into some delays. All the news channels, and several websites, even google, do a good job of reporting traffic. There are enough alternate routes that just checking the traffic and planning ahead will avoid problems. I've been stuck on 270, but even then it's nothing like driving into Chicago.