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How bad is your commute?

MJ5150

Moderator
Staff member
Gold Supporting Member
Apr 12, 2001
17,408
35,779
Edinburg, Texas
Have a look and see where your city ranks, if it does....

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Seattle came in at #7, but I work from home. My commute is walking down a flight of stairs which can be a bottleneck if my wife is headed downstairs at the same time I am.

-Mike
 
atlanta at 22. luckily, i dont touch 75 except to go out of town...or right in downtown.


i'm sure 85/316 would have been on there before they built the new junction. That was the worst merger i've ever been in...but now it is smooth...
 
Route 93 came in at #14 which really makes me stop and think about how much those top 13 must suck. I took 93 downtown for 6 months while I lived at home for an internship. I had hoped to save some money from living on campus, but the aggravation of sitting in traffic was NOT worth it. My mothers house is just south of the 93/95/3/24 area, which is about 20 minutes outside of the city on a clear ride, which is pretty much only between 11 pm and 3 am. Any other hour on any day (including sat/sundays) and it's a complete mess. No reason for it. None. Just a total mess.

Currently, it takes me 5-10 minutes to get to work, a little more if I stop at starbucks. I still drive in because I also have grad school at night so I have to drive downtown after work, but when classes are out I plan (since I've been saying I should for like 2 years) on getting a bike and riding to work.
 
The whole beltway around Norfolk/Va.Beach/Chesapeake is miserable. They were doing construction on those highways when I left in 2001 and were still working in virtually the same spots when I visited in 2008.

Spokane didn't even make the list. If I work at 6am I can usually get to work (7 miles) in 15 minutes doing 40 on a surface street (10 mph over the speed limit) straight shot. I get flashing yellow lights in all but 2 intersections. There is no north south highway (freeway,...whatever). I-90 goes east west,...but I hardly ever get on the highway (freeway,...whatever).

On the way home I usually have to deal with law abiding "slow" drivers who will absolutely go no faster than the speed limit. It is a constant source of irritation but what can do.
 
I currently work from home and walk about 20 feet to my desk and only travel for meetings both regionally and out of town or to play gigs. However, people around here are so spoiled and they would not know what to do in real traffc jams. They think if there are 3 cars in front of them at a traffic light that is a traffic jam. If they have to drive across town and have 5 to 10 traffic lights, they think it is an inconvenience. If they have to drive 20 miles, they thnk it is a major excursion.
 
L.A. is #1, w00t w00t!

My former 22-mile one-way commute used to take between 45min and 1.5hr. I've since moved closer to work and it now takes me 10min by car or 40min by bike. Best decision I've ever made...it's added years to my life!
 
#12, Loop 610, surrounds Houston
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 189
Worst bottleneck: Southbound, Farm-to-Market Rd 1093/Westheimer Rd/Exit 8



Having been stuck at that exact area at rush hour I can say I truly feel sorry for anybody who deals with that on a daily basis. I definitely don't have the patience to sit in traffic for that long for that short of a distance.



Oddly enough, at my internship downtown the part of 610 I take isn't really that crowded at all. I-45 is, however. :scowl:


I-10, US 290, and US 59 are really bad too.