Gene363 wrote:
That drive though the mountains past Asheville is a challenge, but avoiding a trip though Atlanta makes it tolorable.
So in your professional opinion, is Houston or Atlanta traffic the worst?
In order based on my experience here are the worst traffic spots in the US beginning with the absolute worst.
1) LA area
2) I-95 corridor
3) Atlanta
4) Houston
5) I-35 corridor
Easily Atlanta. Houston isn’t so bad since it has multiple loops that gives plenty options. I keep an eye on Apple Maps because it constantly updates traffic and shows the shortest routes according to time. The only reason I even mention Houston is the fact that it’s an extremely large area. It doesn’t seem to be any different than any other urban area in terms of volume per square mile. It gets mentioned because it’s spread out so it just takes longer get through there due to length of travel.
Atlanta on the other hand only has two. Towards the west or the east. If one is backed up, so is the other. If a crash happens on the route you chose then you’re double Dutch screwed.
I’d say the absolute worst is area around LA. Draw a box that goes from the Cajone Pass west to the coast, south to Dana Point, east to Indio then north on I-10 to San Bernardino then back over to the pass. Other than a few hours here or there traffic is always a beast. The closer you get to LA it doesn’t matter what time of the day or night it’s going to suck balls.
After that I’d say the I-95 corridor from the about 30 miles north of Baltimore down past the DC beltway until you get past Richmond, VA. However, when Covid hit most of the private employers and pretty much all government employees workers in that area started telecommuting which knocked down the volume considerably. Since the pandemic has ended most of those workers telecommute on Mondays and Fridays, but go in to the office on Tuesday-Thursday. In fact, I passed through there this past December on Friday the 8th. I planned to spend the night at my sister’s house which is in Fredericksburg, VA. I was prepared to sit in a parking lot since I would be passing around DC about 18:00. To my surprise I never slowed below 60 until I got down south at the bottom of the hill near Quantico. In fact, the northbound lanes were stop and go at times. However, I was running 72 mph southbound. On the other hand, about a month and a half before I went through on a Wednesday around the same time. Took me an extra 2.5 hours to get from Baltimore to Fredericksburg.
Not sure about NYC. I’ve heard rumors, but I only have limited first hand experience. I’ve gone into the Bronx to the Co-op at Hunt’s Point Market a half dozen times. But, my delivery appointments have always been in the wee hours of the AM. So when go I lay up in Roxbury, NJ which is about 65 miles west of the the George Washington bridge. I roll out about midnight and get to the Co-op about an hour later. Traffic is mostly non-existent though you will slow down a tad going across the bridge because they are always shutting down a lane or two to paint. Once they finish they go to the other end and start over. So there is always something going on. Anyway, I’m always out no later than say 6-7 AM. Since I’m going against traffic when I leave I never slow down except crossing the bridge and which really isn’t much.
The I-35 corridor beginning north of Denton, TX down past Dallas can be a pain at times not so much because of the stop and go, but because it’s about a 40 mile stretch so in peak hours you slow down, but generally not below say 40-50 mph unless there is a crash. It about the same as Houston, but just not as vast.
