Moving from Atlanta GA to Phoenix - Need Traffic Advice

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

In reality, our humidity isn't anywhere near the levels of the Midwest & South.

In the morning it definitely can be. Ive seen 75% humidity with 70 degree dewpoints at 6 AM. Read: disgusting.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by The_Cadillac_Lawyer

Traffic is THICK around here. Heading east/central phx to West, you might as well sit back and listen to an audio book. Every artery that crosses I-17 is jammed packed. They knew they needed more east/west freeways years ago and did nothing about it.
Then, when you have free time, seems everyone else does too and the streets are still busy on weekends/evenings while running errands, lol. Its not uncommon to be in traffic for an hour to travel ten miles during rush hour.

I pay a premium to live close to everything I need.

Yes, traffic is not much better on the weekends. The best traffic conditions seem to be later at night, and that's often the best time to do errands anyway. As far as east/west freeways, I agree that more are needed ... in fact, in the '80s there was a planned Paradise Freeway to be constructed from the 51 over to the 101. That was scrapped in the '90s shortly after it was revealed ADOT mis managed the funds allotted to them from the half cent freeway tax. Also, Grand Avenue was supposed to be the Grand Expressway, but that was scrapped as well.

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

In the morning it definitely can be. Ive seen 75% humidity with 70 degree dewpoints at 6 AM. Read: disgusting.

Sometimes the humidity & dew points can be high in the morning, especially if there was a storm the night before. Humidity readings during the afternoon are often in the 20% range, even though the dew point stays rather high because of the high temperatures. Keep in mind that morning humidity in the 70% range is pretty normal here during the winter months, but you don't feel it as much because of the lower temperatures.

[wase4711]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

I couldn't believe how heavy the traffic was, even in the "reverse commute" direction.

Just a quick question; even though I haven't moved out there yet, (hopefully by September), is there actually a "reverse commute" any more in the Phoenix area?
I mean, there is such growth in every area, in every direction, where is the actual "commute" anymore?

It wont matter to me, since we will both be retired when we move there, I was just wondering if there actually is light traffic in any area, or any direction, any more, during rush hours..

I know in Chicago,the reverse commute disappeared awhile ago, and it sucks in any direction on any highway during rush hour, so I assumed it was the same now in the anywhere in the Valley..

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by wase4711

Just a quick question; even though I haven't moved out there yet, (hopefully by September), is there actually a "reverse commute" any more in the Phoenix area?
I mean, there is such growth in every area, in every direction, where is the actual "commute" anymore?

It wont matter to me, since we will both be retired when we move there, I was just wondering if there actually is light traffic in any area, or any direction, any more, during rush hours..

I know in Chicago,the reverse commute disappeared awhile ago, and it sucks in any direction on any highway during rush hour, so I assumed it was the same now in the anywhere in the Valley..

There really is no light traffic during rush hour, even in the "reverse commute" direction ... however, some areas will still be generally less congested in the reverse direction. What happens during rush hour is the sections of freeways around the major interchanges (Stack, Mini Stack, etc.) are always backed up no matter the direction.

In my own commute, the 202 around the 51/10 interchange is continuous brake lights, even outside of rush hour. Once you're away from those slow zones long enough, you'll notice somewhat lighter traffic in the reverse direction. The outer suburban areas will naturally have lighter traffic. Commuting in and around Phoenix isn't as bad as driving in Chicago, but it's not getting any better.

[wase4711]

thanks, thats what I thought..

We are most likely moving to the peoria/surprise area, and, it appears that those areas should have lighter traffic most of the times, but I assume rush hour is busy even there..
Fortunately, or, unfortunately, after 30+ years in Chicago traffic, I doubt anything I encounter in the Phoenix area will bother me, but, either way, I doubt we will bother trying to get anywhere during the 7am-9am/ 3pm-5pm rush hour crunch times..

BTW, what are the actual worst "rush hour" periods out there? In Chicago, 7am-9am is hell in the morning, and 330pm-6pm is the night time nightmare....

[ElleTea]

7-9 is probably your worst traffic in the mornings, but even when I was leaving just before 6am it could still get backed up in some areas.

[wase4711]

yea, I remember when i used to leave around 6-630 am, because I was able to beat some of the normal 7am crowd, but, as more and more people tried the same thing here in Chicago, the morning rush now starts around 6am..Plus, all the local news channels here now start their morning local news at FOUR AM,!!! how insane is that???
By doing that, I think they make more and more folks nervous about their morning commute, there fore making rush hour earlier and earlier..often its bumper to bumper by 615 am now..

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by wase4711

yea, I remember when i used to leave around 6-630 am, because I was able to beat some of the normal 7am crowd, but, as more and more people tried the same thing here in Chicago, the morning rush now starts around 6am..Plus, all the local news channels here now start their morning local news at FOUR AM,!!! how insane is that???
By doing that, I think they make more and more folks nervous about their morning commute, there fore making rush hour earlier and earlier..often its bumper to bumper by 615 am now..

I think a lot of places are getting away from the traditional 8 to 5 workday, too, so people start work earlier, especially if you are in a business that deals with the east coast a lot where we are 3 hours behind them most of the year. If someone gets to work at 8, it's already 11 out east, so going to work at 7 or earlier makes sense. I worked at a place where we dealt with a home office in Connecticut, so they had a lot of people work 6 to 3, when it was 9 AM there.

The traffic on the drive home starts really as early as 2 in some areas.

[wase4711]

good point about th e east coast/west coast issue; in the old days, when I was the sales director of a consumer electronics corp, headquartered in chicago, our attitude was, our hours are 8-5 mon/friday, if you wanted something, find the time to call us in OUR time zone...now a days, obviously that wouldn't fly

I still think its incredible for the news to start at 4am though...is it that way in Phoenix now too, or just a Chicago thing?

[new2colo]

Having lived in Atlanta, I can tell you that the traffic here is nothing compared to there. A lot of people in Phoenix are transplants from small towns who are experiencing the "big" city for the first time. There are definite corridors of congestion, but it is not like Atlanta. Rush hour does start earlier here than Atlanta and seems to last longer overall, but it's less intense. Phoenix is more of a blue collar city than Atlanta and people's work schedules seems to be much more diverse here than in Atlanta as a result. Still, you will experience nothing like rush hour on the top end of the Perimeter, 400 north of 285, 85 from Jimmy Carter into the city, etc.

Additionally, the surface streets flow a lot better here, because unlike ATL all of the major streets are multilaned and are organized in a grid pattern. The surface streets crossings over I-17 that one poster mentioned take 10 minutes to clear at most. It's nothing like ATL with narrow roads with one lane in each direction that can get backed up miles from the light or streets where one lane suddenly turns into a turn only lane and people are trying to cut over.

The traffic jams on 75/85 through downtown and Midtown that take place on weekends are non-existent here in Phoenix. If there is slowing outside of regular rush hour, it is normally because of a crash, construction, rain or rubbernecking (Phoenix drivers are some of the nosiest out there).

Drivers here are much more reckless than drivers back there. Like Atlanta, most drivers don't really signal when changing lanes. Unlike Atlanta, drivers here are generally much quicker to anger, even if they're in the wrong. In Atlanta most everyone adheres to faster traffic on the left, slower traffic on the right. In Phoenix it is a free for all where people do whatever they want in whatever lane they want to. Like ATL, Phoenix's freeways are very lightly enforced by any sort of highway patrol and it definitely shows here.

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Yes, traffic is not much better on the weekends. The best traffic conditions seem to be later at night, and that's often the best time to do errands anyway. As far as east/west freeways, I agree that more are needed ... in fact, in the '80s there was a planned Paradise Freeway to be constructed from the 51 over to the 101. That was scrapped in the '90s shortly after it was revealed ADOT mis managed the funds allotted to them from the half cent freeway tax. Also, Grand Avenue was supposed to be the Grand Expressway, but that was scrapped as well.

This was actually never revealed because there was never any mismanagement. You have yet to cite a single article anywhere that backs up your claims even though you have been claiming this for years.

Actually the Paradise Freeway was dropped from the Regional Transportation Plan due to public opposition from several groups, rising right of way costs, the fact that the freeway would have cost $55-75 million/mile to construct, and because the freeway, unlike nearly every other freeway in metro Phoenix, would have been aligned through neighborhoods that were already established, making it the most expensive freeway in the regional freeway system. It was Fife Symington who made the ultimate call to have the freeway canceled.