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The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
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brandegee
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
NYC traffic spills over big time...Connecticut and New Jersey might as well be part of the ranking.

For example, I have gone from GWU to New Haven on I-95 without ever shifting past 3rd gear.
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Leeeeena the Jalopchick
03/05/09

@brandegee: Ah, but in what car? If you're driving a Ford GT, first gear will take you past 60 mph, and Porsche 911 Turbo will take you well over 100 mph in third. :D
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Mad_Science
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
Wooo!

I've called 3 of those cities home.

Currently in #1 LA, it takes me 45 minutes to cover 45 miles and drop of my wife halfway there.

Of course I live a couple of miles northeast of downtown and commute way out to the ex-urbs on freeways that might as well be the autobahn, so that helps.
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Nitrous Oxide
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
What? Is San Jose really a city? After all these years I've yet to find downtown. Ok I think I know where it is, probably right next to the airport.
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Leeeeena the Jalopchick
03/05/09

@Nitrous Oxide: It's right where the Grand Prix used to take place, before they decided to GET RID OF IT. Bastards.
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Armand
03/05/09

@Nitrous Oxide: It's where all the San Hosers live. But yeah, it's pretty close to the airport.
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Leeeeena the Jalopchick
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
I think New York is plenty bad even with the transportation system in place. Like an idiot, when I was supposed to meet my class at the Museum of Modern Art, I decided to just drive in, and at 4:00 PM on Manhattan it took me nearly four hours to go 3.6 miles. I've never seen traffic like that anywhere before.
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B1663R
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
Oh, America! i thought you said North America... that's why Toronto and the 401 didn't make the list... My bad!

Man, i am so sick of living in USA's Hat!!!!

@ jperly I totally agree with you 100%
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Joshuman
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
The Seattle area is hampered by geography. Bulldozers can beat geography. The problem is, the Seattle area is also populated by environmentalists that think no stone should be turned unless it is turned by a raccoon or the wind or something. We will soon have a light rail system that goes to one or two places but it will not fix the fact that two north-south freeways are supported by two east-west freeways and there is no real mass-transit system.
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Bret
03/05/09

@joshman: The lack of a decent mass transit system in Seattle is stunning. I can drive to work in 10 or 15 minutes during rush hour. Bus? 45 to 60 minutes with the bonus of a long walk.

I keep hoping this area will invest in a decent bus network so I can enjoy driving in the peaceful solitude of my car.
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Pessimippopotamus
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
You should have Google map links with the live traffic info on, Matt.

Like this. This is LA-OC region.

[maps.google.com]
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Exit11
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
Interesting that they didn't do the suburban areas. There's plenty of badness in NJ, Westchester and Long Island.
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Exit11
03/05/09

@Exit11: What I should've said is that they should have looked at the metropolitan areas as a whole. Trying to get up 287 or the Garden State Parkway or onto the GWB is almost as bad as the Gowanus.
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Exit11
03/05/09

@Exit11: And lord knows, we have plenty of choke points around here.
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diddiyo
03/05/09

@Exit11:

10 miles of US.1 & Rt.18 combined = 1 hour drive during rushour :<

i'm glad i moved closer to work.
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SuzanneD
03/05/09

@Exit11: When I first moved to South Jersey from down South, people would ask me what I thought of it up here and I would say, "The driving is awful! You all are fucking crazy!" To which they would respond defensively, "Well you should see North Jersey, it's way worse..."
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MushyHeirloom
03/05/09

@Exit11: Is that "Go-wawnis" or "Gow-anus" (to rhyme with "cow anus")?
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brandegee
03/05/09

@diddiyo: Yuk. That's terrible. For myself, try 35 miles of Jersey City to Rockaway NJ. The bridge count exceeds 30.
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scroggzilla raids again
03/05/09

@Exit11: 2 words....Driscoll...(stops to shudder involuntarily)....Bridge. Not as bad as it was when the toll boths were open, but still.....(shudder)
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SRekauqh
03/05/09

@SuzanneD: South Jersey represent. I have no traffic...only Deer and State Police to contend with.
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Elhigh
03/05/09

@SRekauqh: ...and the Jersey Devil.
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jperly
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
The title should read 'in the United States of America'. I live in Toronto, in this little city north of you, and I understand that our 401 highway has the distinction of being the busiest freeway in North America.

[en.wikipedia.org])
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Maymar
03/05/09

@jperly: I don't know if that's absolutely a congestion issue though, it's just a major transport artery and serves most of southern Ontario, straight through to Quebec. It's always seemed to me like the worst point in Toronto's highways is trying to get onto the southbound DVP (especially from the 404).
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Das ASHloch (achtundsiebzig)
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
I wish I could find the per-capita miles driven stat. I did a paper in college showing how Birmingham, AL was the worst in the country in terms of car usage.

15+ contiguous towns and cities together, separated by three mountain ridges, and poor infrastructure spending. Nice combo.

My dad always comments that it reminds him of when he lived in LA in 1972.
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A Pimp Named DaveR
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
I disagree with you in part on DC. The disproportionately suburban (and therefore commuter) workforce is one factor, but I think the worst of DC's problems are (a) the significant and unavoidable chokepoint that is the Potomac (there are functionally only 3-4 places to cross the river within the area), and (b) the fact that there isn't a typical high-capacity roadway system (i.e. interstates) servicing the downtown area. In that sense, it's a lot like NYC.

DC would be a LOT worse if it didn't have a pretty good public transportation system. But then, the same can be said about NYC, too.
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Landau_Calrissian loves our President Camacho.
03/05/09

@A Pimp Named DaveR: I think also that many of the drivers there did not learn to drive in places that had traffic lights.
And the middling public transport is largely useless for the new sprawl, like Ashburn and south of the Mixing Bowl.
I like Virginia's idea of the rentable office space. My company utilize that a lot for telecommuting and avoiding going into that cesspool at all.
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Elhigh
03/05/09

@Landau_Calrissian is a Plastic Paddy: The MetroRail is good west as far as Vienna, but if you're coming from farther out - and a lot of people do - then it makes as much sense to just stay in your car, since all the parking around the station is going to fill fast. There's a free lot close to Ballston that's built right over the 66 and there's usually a few spots left there even when I show up around 10am or so (visiting folks, don't live there anymore), it doesn't get the kind of use it might otherwise because it's a walk of over half a mile back to the station. The walk doesn't bother me.
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alexmetal
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
No Salt Lake City? Bah! I've heard from many people from California that we have worse traffic/drivers here than in California. And, from my experience driving in both cities, at least you can get from downtown San Diego to Oceanside in about 2-3 hours during rush hour, but in Salt Lake, to travel 50 blocks it takes about 1.5-2 hours. Horrible. We have two freeways. One of which just runs North-South in the middle of the city, the other one loops around to the east bench, then there's NOTHING going East-West. Thus, horrible traffic on the freeway and the streets. If there's an accident on either, God help you.
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Jo Schmo
03/05/09

@alexmetal: I gave you a heart clicky for your synopsis. I agree completely I used to live on the west side and with no freeways going there traffic was a nightmare. Now I just ride the train and sleep or read a book, well when the train works anyway.
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alexmetal
03/05/09

@Jo Schmo, Pauljones evil and opposite twin: Thankfully I just live about 2 blocks away from work, so I just walk during the summer and take a quick drive during winter. However, I'm moving to Daybreak in late summer and I'm not stoked about that commute (until they get the Trax line up out there, then I can go back to walking). We went to look at our foundation with our realtor the other day, and it took us an hour and a half to get there from Murray. (For those of you not from Salt Lake, it's only about 13 miles between the two areas.)
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Jo Schmo
03/05/09

@alexmetal: I blame Bangerter Highway for pretty much all of west sides traffic problems. Oh and that stupid airport gets in the way of everything too.
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alexmetal
03/05/09

@Jo Schmo, Pauljones evil and opposite twin: Really? I blame the hippies. If they'd just shut the hell up about their precious wetlands and just let us build some freeways over a few beaver dams and bird mating areas, everyone would be a bit happier. We're a big(ger) city now, and we need a big city infrastructure to handle our traffic woes. Specifically the East-West woes. People from Provo can stay in Provo for all I care.
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Jo Schmo
03/05/09

@alexmetal: ha ha when you say "wetlands" did you mean "West Valley?" In that case I agree, bulldoze it and build a freeway and a Trax line.
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Jo Schmo
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
Thankfully SLC isn't on there, not that it matters because I live a block from the Trax station (light rail) and work two blocks from another station. I only drive when I gotta go to the liquor store or hooker trolling.
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Leeeeena the Jalopchick
03/05/09

@Jo Schmo, Pauljones evil and opposite twin: LOL, and what vehicle do you take for the aforementioned activities? Better make sure it has a big trunk!
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brandegee
03/05/09

@leeeeena: He clearly drives a sweet Camaro with flames.
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OldeEnglishD
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
Hey look, there's Comerica park! Oh shit, it looks like Inge struck out again...
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engineerd
03/05/09

@OldeEnglishD: You can't see into Ford Field, but I bet you can guess what's going on.
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OldeEnglishD
03/05/09

@engineerd thinks cannoli is deserving of a star: 51 years of suckage
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aSoundofSleep-less nights
03/05/09

@OldeEnglishD:
Ha, nice. I'm getting kind of tired of him at third. I love his defense but we need to get a bat in the corner.
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OldeEnglishD
03/05/09

@aSoundofSleep hates work: Reduces Jalop time: Doesn't it seem like every year we hear about how Inge is changing his swing to be more consistant and how Bonderman is working on his change-up?
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engineerd
03/05/09

@OldeEnglishD: Hopefully with the new pitching coach our bullpen won't suck quite as bad as last year. My God, that was depressing.
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aSoundofSleep-less nights
03/05/09

@engineerd thinks cannoli is deserving of a star:

No one's pitching can be as bad as ours was last year. It was the most pathetic display of ball throwing I have ever seen and I was ashamed to be a part of it. Really, Dontrelle Willis??? Walks more than he strikes out X2. Fuck him.
I've been a Tigers fan since I've been alive and we have had some shitty seasons but last year's pitching was inexcusable.
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OldeEnglishD
03/05/09

@aSoundofSleep hates work: Reduces Jalop time: The sad thing is it was more enjoyable to watch the team when Luis Pujols was our manager and Higginson was our best player than it was to watch that debacle last year!
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Leeeeena the Jalopchick
03/05/09

In reply to The 20 Most Traffic-Congested Cities In America
I'm surprised that San Francisco made it on the list, but Oakland/Berkeley/East Bay in general didn't. There's a reason why the commuter lane requires three people per vehicle over there, ya know.

By the way, I wasn't aware that San Francisco's population was a mere 4,202 people. :P
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pauljones
03/05/09

@leeeeena:

Yes, Berkeley does suck. I once went to visit a friend that went to UC Berkeley, and I never want to drive around there again.
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