How's the traffic where you live?

[Jesda]

I was reading this:
http://nextstl.com/transportation/less- ... -st-louis/

St Louis is one of the least-congested cities in the country, but we're still bottom ranked for commute times. The explanation seems to be that while our highways are well-maintained and have excellent coverage through most areas, it causes people to live further from work.

The counter to that is the growing number employers moving to the suburbs to be closer to more educated people (labor pool) and to save money, which for many has resulted in shorter commutes. Of course, those who remain in the city end up driving further than they used to.

I live in the burbs and once a week I drive downtown where the warehouse is located. Why? Because the s*** North St Louis neighborhood means warehousing is dirt cheap. There's also a risk of my car getting stolen.

Some folks (environmentalists, urban renewalists, well-to-do hipsters rebelling against their parents by moving into gentrified urban condos with parental money) are advocating fuel tax hikes and reduced highway development, which sound like great ways to choke the regional economy. It get the feeling they won't be happy until we're all living in shoeboxes and eating celery.

Its a real problem -- a less dense population is supporting the development of more infrastructure which means tax dollars are less efficiently spent. But the there has to be a better solution than jacking up everyone's cost of living and taxing peaceful, comfortable lifestyles out of existence.



The long-winded version of the above, with charts and graphics:
http://jesda.com/2011/02/07/less-conges ... -commutes/

[Jesda]

To answer my own question, its about 30 minutes to the city once a week to get to the warehouse. I closed my office which was 20 minutes away and now work from home. As a consequence of feeling stuck in the house, I like to put the top down and go for leisure drives at night. So, I guess its a wash, but at least I'm driving for pleasure rather than necessity.

[Dattebayo]

I work out of a home office now too. But I still have to do installs and site visits for troubleshooting and repair...

Traffic here SUCKS, especially if you need to cross a bridge into VA. DC's roads are terribad, and Maryland is full of idiot drivers and plenty of tourists from anywhere that seem to have just been pushed out the MVA with their license, forgetting every rule in the process.

[frapjap]

Where I live, traffic is alright. However, if I need to travel to Providence, Boston, (or have to pass through either), theres a giant wrench in what time I get up in the morning to arrive on time. Providence has somewhat resolved their traffic problem with some diversion routes, but there are still 2-3 highways that all meet and exit off one another with about 50 yards of on/off ramp to support each one. Nicky's cousin Tony must have "knew a guy" who could develop roads which resulted in the f*** that they call a highway junction. I'll sit in NYC or Chicago traffic before I expose myself to Boston traffic.

[ProudNissanFreak]

Bradenton sucks. There's never ending construction on roads everywhere, they close down lanes, and it just becomes really congested. Sarasota isn't as bad, but parts of 301 are like hell. Bradenton is traffic 24/7.

[Jesda]

I work out of a home office now too. But I still have to do installs and site visits for troubleshooting and repair...

Traffic here SUCKS, especially if you need to cross a bridge into VA. DC's roads are terribad, and Maryland is full of idiot drivers and plenty of tourists from anywhere that seem to have just been pushed out the MVA with their license, forgetting every rule in the process.

Does Metro go anywhere near your place?

[DamonDread]

I-4 is the worse insterstate in the country! the 417 is nice but tolls every 5 minutes it seems, and local traffic make me want to dig my own brain out with an icepick. I effin hate the traffic in florida. Oh and if it rains (like today) ppl get even worse.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Utah is the land of perpetual road construction. I-15 is ALWAYS under construction somewhere along its 401 mile stretch, usually in the more populated areas.

My new job has me commuting a mere 15 miles each way, but on a 55mph 2-lane highway where people seem terrified of the speed limit. Big change from the ~80mph 64-mile round trip I used to make.

Salt Lake city itself is not bad for congestion because there are plenty of highway options. However, due to the almost 2D layout of Utah's habitable geography north of SLC (we're squished between the Wasatch mountains and the Great Salt Lake), highway options are limited. You've got I-15 and one 55 mph highway (with stoplights) to chose from, and that's it. If there's a major crash on I-15, the whole world comes to a halt. I remember years and years ago when I was a kid, my mom got stuck in a 4 mile stretch between freeway exits for 3 hours because of a chemical spill.

[Kompresshun]

Lexington is great IMHO, it's funny though because people here whine about the commute all the time. Coming from Atlanta though, I think the commute is great, I can leave the house and be at the office in 15 min or less, unless there is a wreck (which is very rare). We live outside of the city too, so even when my wife was working downtown, she could be at work in 20 min. There are some trafficy areas but thats only during the typical rush hour.

In Atlanta, I worked 5mi from our house and it took me 15-20 min to get there. My wife worked 15 mi away and it took 45min - 1 hr to get there. My job there also kept me in a company vehicle most days and if I didn't beat rush hour, I'd be sitting in traffic for 1-2 hrs vs the normal 15 min drive from the warehouse in the afternoons. I grew up there and no amount of money would get me to move back there.

[Encryptshun]

I live in Chicago.

Traffic here is a type of climate.

[samxini]

PHX, AZ
Traffic sucks unless it's midnight - 4 a.m.

[Razi]

Traffic gets pretty ghey around here at times, especially where the 15 freeway and 91 meet.

But my main complaint are the road "repair" jobs that suck pen0r, sometimes I think it would've been better if they didn't repair it.

[dre1507]

lol damon. i know what you mean with floridians, traffic, and rain. I've had 80mph traffic come a complete stop in under a minute due to rain.

[breadbox]

Especially cuz we have dumb people who slow down before going through any tunnel, its Turrible, just turrible.

Hamptons roads, should just be Bridge and tunnel Va.

[flohtingPoint]

I've been all over this entire country and nothing beats NY/NJ. 30 minutes to go 4 miles this morning. People honking furiously at you if you dont turn left on a red light. Traffic lights that just have trashbags over them and you're expected to merge on blind intersections. I can go on and on about how much this area blows.

[Jesda]

Sometimes I'm amazed by MODOT.

They shut down all of interstate 64, the main route that goes across the city, for more than 2 years to rebuild all of it. It was originally a 45mph parkway that evolved into an interstate but never had the actual capacity for interstate traffic. Ramps were like sudden hairpins. You'd slam the brakes from 60 to 20 to get on a ramp, or else you were dead.

But they finished the project early AND under budget.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM-WigDAnQw[/youtube]

[Amays U G37S]

Atlanta is horrid.

Implimented new a law system against speeding and wreckless driving, and no one follows it. Oh well, I get to work the back way anyways.

Jesda, oh humblist of all, what do you do for a living?

[flohtingPoint]

Sometimes I'm amazed by MODOT.

They shut down all of interstate 64, the main route that goes across the city, for more than 2 years to rebuild all of it. It was originally a 45mph parkway that evolved into an interstate but never had the actual capacity for interstate traffic. Ramps were like sudden hairpins. You'd slam the brakes from 60 to 20 to get on a ramp, or else you were dead.

But they finished the project early AND under budget.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM-WigDAnQw[/youtube]

I was just moving from that area when they went to close down the 40. You'd think they were sacrificing first borns, people were going berserk.

[heliochrome85]

brooklyn. nuff said.

[Gaijin]

brooklyn. nuff said.

L.A. nuff said

[flohtingPoint]

brooklyn. nuff said.

L.A. nuff said

LA is a drive in the park compared to NY. NY is 20 million of the worlds crappiest drivers on the worlds crappiest roads.

[Theo]

In Toronto it is really bad. I think we have the longest commute times or second longest in North America. 500,000 car per day use the highway.

It sucks!

[ProudNissanFreak]

In Toronto it is really bad. I think we have the longest commute times or second longest in North America. 500,000 car per day use the highway.

It sucks!

401 is a b****, day and night. Even the expressway gets really bad.

[Jesda]

Jesda, oh humblist of all, what do you do for a living?

I run a bookstore and eat a lot of oranges.

Atlanta is fun on the interstate because traffic moves FAST, but in town I want to kill everyone. Every single person.

[Dattebayo]

Does Metro go anywhere near your place?

Sort of, but it takes 30 minutes to get to the closest station by bus, and you can't do my kind of work from the train. Busses come and go when they want, not according to any real schedule, and they never match up to get anywhere in time for anything. using public transportation here will average 2 hours to get to work unless you're right off a train.

[bluepillow]

brooklyn. nuff said.

x2

[nissangirl74]

PHX, AZ
Traffic sucks unless it's midnight - 4 a.m.

Typically, this is very true. There is ALWAYS construction, somewhere. Grand avenue, Greg's route to work, has been under construction for widening and adding lanes for over a year. The I-10 in Tucson has been under construction for going on 4 years. My route to school is also under construction. We have lots of freeways but during rush hour, they turn into parking lots. I would hate to see how bad it is when the economy is good and EVERYONE got up and went to work everyday. You'd have to leave your house at 4 AM to get to work by 7.

[costa_rican13]

i guess oklahoma is where its at guys!

[Jesda]

I was just moving from that area when they went to close down the 40. You'd think they were sacrificing first borns, people were going berserk.

I was the motivator in deciding not to renew the lease on my office. Now I have a home full of books, but I've attempted to make it blend in as if they're all subjects I've been reading

[Zydeco]

almost none here. here in napa county theres only like 5 miles of freeway.