St. Louis - the traffic doesn't suck... (Clayton, Atlanta: college, quality of life)

[MUTGR]

St. Louis region's traffic snarls aren't bad compared to other metros, studies indicate | Along for the Ride | stltoday.com

...so we have that going for us. And I for one appreciate it.

[Angus215]

Anyone who has lived in just about any other major city could have told you this, no study required. Even in those places where there is regular congestion, it is during the times of day that you would expect. Not constantly throughout the day and during weekends like NYC, Chicago, LA, DC, Atlanta, Philly, etc

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by Angus215

Anyone who has lived in just about any other major city could have told you this, no study required. Even in those places where there is regular congestion, it is during the times of day that you would expect. Not constantly throughout the day and during weekends like NYC, Chicago, LA, DC, Atlanta, Philly, etc

I've lived in one of the cities mentioned and yes traffic and high commute times do eat away at the quality of life in those cities. What I didn't expect living in Chicago was the constant work being done on their aging EL system that made commuting by train almost as bad as driving.

[Angus215]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

I've lived in one of the cities mentioned and yes traffic and high commute times do eat away at the quality of life in those cities. What I didn't expect living in Chicago was the constant work being done on their aging EL system that made commuting by train almost as bad as driving.

I've never lived in Chicago, but have spent a lot of time there. The traffic is horrendous, even on weekends. The El is the slowest moving train I have ever been on.

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

I've lived in one of the cities mentioned and yes traffic and high commute times do eat away at the quality of life in those cities. What I didn't expect living in Chicago was the constant work being done on their aging EL system that made commuting by train almost as bad as driving.

Much of the L is one hundred years old or more, including stations. There will always be a need to slowly modernize and replace older parts of the system. Luckily they've gotten the track slowzones down to 7.6% of the entire system

[HayateWind]

Originally Posted by PerseusVeil

Much of the L is one hundred years old or more, including stations. There will always be a need to slowly modernize and replace older parts of the system. Luckily they've gotten the track slowzones down to 7.6% of the entire system

There's also a LOT of stations too. I once took the Red line between Loyola and downtown (and I had to make this trip a couple of times), and even in the heat of rush hour, the bus only a couple of minutes slower than taking the train, which is a little ridiculous. I didn't understand why people loved the Skokie Swift so much until I realized how slow the L was.

I've lived in Atlanta and spent a lot of times on the streets of New York here and the traffic is so incredibly tame, I love it. In my commute from CWE to the airport, the only slow spot is the *awful* Clayton Rd. exit. But traffic here is usually so easy to handle.

[Scottiegal]

the traffic here moves, and there is space between the cars, in Chicago it’s like sitting in a parking lot...twice a day!

[Angus215]

Originally Posted by Scottiegal

the traffic here moves, and there is space between the cars, in Chicago it’s like sitting in a parking lot...twice a day!

It really does have a huge impact on quality of life, and it's a big positive for St Louis. The highway system is generally excellent. And no toll roads (another major problem in Chicago)

[Scottiegal]

Originally Posted by Angus215

It really does have a huge impact on quality of life, and it's a big positive for St Louis. The highway system is generally excellent. And no toll roads (another major problem in Chicago)

Oh yes those blasted tolls! My brother used to work way north by the Wisconsin border (he lives in the Chicago burbs) it was a two hour commute each way...not to mention the tolls!

St. Louis is much easier and cheaper to get around!

[PerseusVeil]

Originally Posted by HayateWind

There's also a LOT of stations too. I once took the Red line between Loyola and downtown (and I had to make this trip a couple of times), and even in the heat of rush hour, the bus only a couple of minutes slower than taking the train, which is a little ridiculous. I didn't understand why people loved the Skokie Swift so much until I realized how slow the L was.

What bus were you taking? In college I lived off off Loyola and routinely had to take it to Lake for an internship, and the bus or even a cab was never even close in terms of speed in the morning in my experience due to how gridlocked Lake Shore Dr always was. Without traffic the difference is more negligible though because a bus like the 147 will take LSD express half of its trip.

I have similar problems now in Lakeview because the 146 express has to merge directly into Lake Shore's traffic. It's faster to walk to the L still in the morning. My main complaint is getting onto a train that looks like this:
https://media2.fdncms.com/chicago/im...ont_magnum.jpg

Not that the crowds on the 146 are much better during rush hour, mind you. Also, the Skokie Swift is the L. It's the Yellow Line. It just has 2 stops and is little used in comparison to other lines. They are trying to take some of the rush hour pressure off of the Red Line by expanding where the Purple Line stops though.