What metro area has the best laid out highway/interstate system? (largest, Dallas)
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In some American cities, traffic really chokes up the highways and freeways around the city and traffic is unbearable. Some cities have found a way to lay out highways that expedite traffic flow and that bring you to your location more quickly and sensibly.
A lot of people complain about Atlanta traffic I have noticed, whereas some people will say Chicago traffic, for a city its size, is surprisngly well managed.
What city do you think has the best laid out highway system? I included a poll with the 11 largest metro areas in the country, but if there is another city on the list you think is worth mentioning, feel free to bring it up.
I'll throw a vote in for Phoenix. Have driven in New York, L.A., Atlanta, Philly and Washington D.C. For a large metro that is just out of the scope of your survey, it is the easiest to get around. Even if the freeway is backed up or blocked, you can still get on surface streets to find your way home.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by grmi66
I'll throw a vote in for Phoenix. Have driven in New York, L.A., Atlanta, Philly and Washington D.C. For a large metro that is just out of the scope of your survey, it is the easiest to get around. Even if the freeway is backed up or blocked, you can still get on surface streets to find your way home.
I second Phoenix, not too many good options on the poll. DC, Boston, and Philly are among the worst.
I second Phoenix, not too many good options on the poll. DC, Boston, and Philly are among the worst.
Well I wasn't going for a medium sized city with expertly laid out highway and interstate systems, I was going for the 11 largest metro areas. Phoenix isn't in the top 11, but I said you can write in any cities you want.
From personal accounts I have heard that Atlanta and D.C. are notorious for congested traffic. New York kind of goes without saying, but maybe someone else feels differently.
On the subject of cities not on the list, Austin, Indianapolis, and Columbus all have very well laid out interstate systems that seem to keep most of the traffic flowing around the city, instead of carving right through the centre. I've found that while traffic can be bad in areas, it's generally a good even flow.
My comment is that very few people would be knowledgeable enough to be qualified to vote in the poll. I am not so I didn't vote, having driven personally on freeway systems in only six out of the eleven cities listed (in some of them only passed through one time and in others my experience was many years ago). To make a valid choice, it seems to me we should really know something about all eleven places.
I'm not claiming that the thread is useless, because interesting discussions will come from folks who do have experience with a few of the different places and can compare them.
My vote goes to Chicago, mostly because of the complimentary nature of the rail and highway components. I also have to put in a good word for Los Angeles, mostly because of the revival of rail transit, which was seen as a "basket case" forty years ago. I'm passing on Houston because I have little familiarity with it (and Dallas / Fort Worth seems more willing to embrace both "light" and "heavy" rail. And I'm in agreement with a couple of other people here that Phoenix' potential, (as opposed to its actual development to date) is highly underrated.
Well I wasn't going for a medium sized city with expertly laid out highway and interstate systems, I was going for the 11 largest metro areas. Phoenix isn't in the top 11, but I said you can write in any cities you want.
Phoenix is the 13th largest MSA, so it's not like I was throwing in a medium sized city. What will be interesting to see is how we handle future growth. Just watched a video where they said that the Phoenix metro area will be adding 2.9 million people in the next 30 years. So we will have to create roads, houses and infrastructure to handle adding a city the size of Denver to what we already have.
We are still building freeways and adding lanes to our existing freeways so we just might be able to stay on top of it.
Something that perplexes me is the lack of major mass transit in western and southern cities.
I believe Atlanta has a well established rail line and a subway system, but it's the ONLY southern city with a Subway if I'm not mistaken. Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Inland Empire, none of these areas have a built up mass transit system as far as I know.
It seems like rail lines and subways are more of a midwest and east coast thing. Chicago and St. Louis have the El, Cleveland has a rail line whose name is escaping me at the moment, Charlotte recently added a light rail line inside the city, Indianapolis will likely be adding a rail line in the next 5 years, then of course from Boston to Washington D.C. is nothing but roads and rail lines.
Something that perplexes me is the lack of major mass transit in western and southern cities.
I believe Atlanta has a well established rail line and a subway system, but it's the ONLY southern city with a Subway if I'm not mistaken. Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Inland Empire, none of these areas have a built up mass transit system as far as I know.
It seems like rail lines and subways are more of a midwest and east coast thing. Chicago and St. Louis have the El, Cleveland has a rail line whose name is escaping me at the moment, Charlotte recently added a light rail line inside the city, Indianapolis will likely be adding a rail line in the next 5 years, then of course from Boston to Washington D.C. is nothing but roads and rail lines.
Not sure what this has to do with freeway systems....
Seems like most major cities all over the country are adding rail. Nearly every major West Coast city has rail transit - Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Sacramento, Oakland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego. Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City all have it as well. Older East Coast cities definitely have more prominent / established systems, but they are not unique in having rail transit.
I voted Phoenix. Los Angeles has a well-planned system but many of the freeways were blocked leaving some conspicuous gaps in the system. Additionally, the city is way too dense to have relied exclusively on the freeway system for long-distance traveling - which is why you see the city working so hard to play catch up with rail transit.
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