which is the commute direction? into or out of Boston? (Waltham: home, live)

[vast]

With so many companies in the towns surrounding the city of Boston, it's hard to tell (as an out of towner) which direction has the heaviest commute during work hours - can you let me know, please?

[TAM88]

The heaviest concentrations of traffic will be going into Boston. So 93 south of Boston heading into the city and 93 north of Boston heading into Boston will be jammed. Also, the Mass Pike (90) heading into the city will also be jammed.

Also the area of 95 from Waltham to the 93/95 interchange in Woburn will also see heavy traffic volumes.



Boston area traffic report - Boston.com

This is a good source to show you traffic flows at any given time of the day.

[vast]

awesome. thank you!

[MikePRU]

I think generally you could say that all routes into Boston will be jammed (Rt. 2, I93 N&S, I90, etc). You could even describe many of the train lines as jammed with people.

[el_greco]

is there one direction that traffic into / out of boston tends to be worse for commuters? like north, south, or i90? or are they all about the same

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by el_greco

is there one direction that traffic into / out of boston tends to be worse for commuters? like north, south, or i90? or are they all about the same

I'd say coming into Boston from the south on I93 north is probably the worst. Rt. 2 is pretty bad as well. I90 and I93 south (from the north) are probably the better drives. Honestly though, if possible I would leave the driving to someone else and take public transportation. It's like getting about 2 hours back in your day. You can read, do work, listen to music, post on City-Data, or whatever right from the train. I hope you're not doing the same thing driving in your car although I once saw a guy eating a bowl of cereal while driving so you just never know.

[mmyk72]

Originally Posted by TAM88

Also the area of 95 from Waltham to the 93/95 interchange in Woburn will also see heavy traffic volumes.

Actually, recently I had a week-long project and had to drive on 95 (so I was going North in the morning) and there was virtually no traffic from Waltham to the 93/95 interchange. The opposite direction (going South) was much heavier in traffic ... it seemed the south-bound traffic originated from NH.

In the afternoon going south, I expected the traffic pattern to reverse but nope.... it was still jam-packed going south.

I heard that traffic on the I-90 (aka 'Mass Pike') is less heavy (eventhough it still is jam packed) than 93 (both directions) in the morning. I-90 is a toll road just so you know and there's usually a jam coming out of the toll booths.

I agree with Mike.... any route that points you toward Boston-proper is going to be jammed. Add to that any speck of rain or heaven forbid, snow, will double or triple the drive time.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

I'd say coming into Boston from the south on I93 north is probably the worst. Rt. 2 is pretty bad as well. I90 and I93 south (from the north) are probably the better drives. Honestly though, if possible I would leave the driving to someone else and take public transportation. It's like getting about 2 hours back in your day. You can read, do work, listen to music, post on City-Data, or whatever right from the train. I hope you're not doing the same thing driving in your car although I once saw a guy eating a bowl of cereal while driving so you just never know.

LOL! Everytime I see people put on makeup in their car during rush hour, I secretly hope they will brake short and poke their eye with the mascara brush. That should get them to stop doing such stupid things.

I agree - coming from the South in the morning is the worst (both I-93 and Rt-24). In the evening it's pretty bad going any direction if you're within 5-10 miles of downtown because many people aren't going straight home after work.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Parsec

I agree - coming from the South in the morning is the worst (both I-93 and Rt-24). In the evening it's pretty bad going any direction if you're within 5-10 miles of downtown because many people aren't going straight home after work.

For a short time, I lived on the RI/MA border and commuted into Boston. The first day of my new job I decided to drive in and it took me nearly 3 hours to get to work. Also, I was driving a manual transmission at the time. With all the stop and go traffic along the way my left leg nearly fell off. After that, I nearly always took the commuter rail.

[sm4269a]

I'm going to have the pleasure of driving from JP to Merrimack, NH every day. BLURGH!