Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
DC and NYC are ALWAYS making the list for most congested cities. Like I said, Public transit only does so much. Just because a city have it, traffic isn't going to automatically come to a halt and everyone is going to ditch their cars, and ride rail.
NYC is not in the top 10 this year and I've already explained why DC is up there. Rail is not GOING to be there for everyone. It's not there to take people out of their car. It's there to offer an alternative. If the Metro was much more extensive than it is now out in the suburbs, then there wouldnt be that much congestion. To fix our infrastructure, more rail is needed. Not more road.
One train used to capacity can take up to 600 cars off the road.
In Chicago alone, CTA gives more than 100,000 rides a day (i think this also includes buses, but I'm not entirely sure). That is 100,000 cars that aren't on the road.
I don't know about NYC's numbers, but it's considerably more.
So just imagine how terrible the gridlock would be if transit magically disappeared one day.
I still maintain that widening highways and building more of them does not make things better. Maybe temporarily, but then people decide to take the "new" or "widened" highway because it's "faster" and then you wind up back where you started.
Transit doesn't solve everything, but it does alleviate traffic.
Wide freeways and great public transit goes good together imo.
Interstates in the Tampa Bay area are usually three lanes each way. I think the widest that it ever gets is at five lanes in one direction and three in the other for about half a mile. Our toll roads are two lanes in each direction.
I live in LA, and the freeways out here are definitely uniformly huge. However, I don't think even the biggest LA freeway is as big as the 10 freeway (the Katy Fwy) through West Houston. I've never seen a freeway that big. I haven't been to Atlanta in a long time, so I don't know if the 85 in its current state through downtown is bigger.
my opinion the 401 in ontario is the widest for the number of miles obviously .. but for the short factor its quite different, to name one that im filmilar with .. i-10 katy at i-610 west loop exceeds anything by far in lane counts in the country . 28 total freeway lanes including i-10 / the managed lanes / and the us-290 hot lanes .. here is my video i-10 katy in both directions hd video
Most metro areas seem to have a least a few massive freeways. Five lanes each way is so common now.
I would say St Louis has some massive freeways for a midwestern city. Atlanta, Houston and LA seem to really have the most. Houston has the biggest craziest interchanges. The widest I have been on has been in Toronto, the 401.
Some very large metro areas have tiny freeways compared to their peers. Minneapolis seems to have narrow freeways, (especially for a spread out metro like they are), as do most of the cities in the Northeast corridor. Philly, Baltimore, I thought the Beltway in DC would be at least 10 lanes all the way around, but it's only six in many parts, NYC, Boston etc. Jersey Turnpike is pretty wide though. Most towns on the west coast don't have too many massively wide freeways outside of LA.
So, yea, Houston is probably number one in the states. Then Toronto.
I remember when 880 was only 3 lanes on each side all the way to San Jose. Traffic was insane.
Now its 5 lanes on each side and traffic sucks again.
California has the largest population and the most cars on the road and yet our freeways suck. The freeways need to be bigger! It took me an hour to get to San Jose from Fremont at 11 am! Don't people work? lol The 880 is a mess, it needs to have more than 5 lanes in each direction imo.
California has the largest population and the most cars on the road and yet our freeways suck. The freeways need to be bigger! It took me an hour to get to San Jose from Fremont at 11 am! Don't people work? lol The 880 is a mess, it needs to have more than 5 lanes in each direction imo.
880 thru Milpitas is already 6-7 lanes on each side isnt it?
I don't see how widening it anymore is going to be anything more than a temporary fix. Now that I think about it, 880 in San Jose needs 2 more lanes on each side--for the most part its only 3 there now.
Mission Blvd from Hayward all the way to 680 in Fremont should be freeway imo. That would put thousands of cars that go from 580 to 880 and keep them away from the Nimitz.
But I digress. The Bay Area planned itself into this mess by becoming anti-development.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
