Friday Afternoon Traffic...OYE!!!

[scrabbler1]

And it's not just the rush hours starting around 3 PM here on Long Island. It often runs until well after 7 PM. Last night, I was out and drove about 10 miles, leaving my place around 7:30 PM. It took about 40 minutes to go those 10 miles. I had to bail on the parkway because it was not moving more than 20 mph and often was stopped completely. Even the return trip around 11 PM was no picnic because they were repainting some of the lane markings, closing one of the 3 lanes in spots, causing minor delays.

 

[JoeWras]

Traffic is likely the thing that will jolt me out of my OMY syndrome.

In RDU, I find Fridays are usually not the worst since people slip out early. Tues-Thurs are the worse.

 

[JoeWras]

I never had nearly the same problem with traffic as many are posting. It was frustrating enough with all the lack of attention that drivers have whether during rush hours, from tourists, or during holidays. It is, however, more that just frustrating when riding a motorcycle. Living at the edge of the east coast there is a compound effect with beach traffic from the town folks especially during the summer. But now with school in session and the weather getting cooler the traffic in and out from the beach has settled into more predictable hours and I can be more selective on my driving times. That has been a nice luxury for the past few years.
Cheers!

The amount of phone gazing is alarming. I mean, really alarming. It is no surprise that we see so many rear end collisions on our interstates when traffic has just a small slow down.

I don't ride a motorcycle, but have friends and family who do. They've had some bad incidents that woke me up to look for the cycle. The "shaker lights" and "loud pipes" actually don't bother me like they used to now that I have a different perspective.

 

[Scuba]

I have a 34 mile commute that routinely takes an hour and a half each day. The good news is I'm ERing very soon so only have to drive in 10 more times! Once we are retired, I don't intend to go near the traffic. We live in a self contained small city within LA area so I shouldn't have to go too far after ER.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[2017ish]

I've fixed traffic woes by coming in earlier and earlier and leaving later and later... Commuting to downtown Nashville isn't bad if I leave by 6:00 a.m. and after 7 p.m. Usually avoid hitting my brakes on the 18 miles of interstate--except maybe 1-4 times a month. Weekends are much easier unless NFL game or big musical events by the office.

Much easier than LA, ATL, Chicago, etc. BUT, the workday has definitely expanded over the years as a result of traffic evasion. Looking forward to not worrying about it.

 

[MRG]

The amount of phone gazing is alarming. I mean, really alarming. It is no surprise that we see so many rear end collisions on our interstates when traffic has just a small slow down.

I don't ride a motorcycle, but have friends and family who do. They've had some bad incidents that woke me up to look for the cycle. The "shaker lights" and "loud pipes" actually don't bother me like they used to now that I have a different perspective.

I learned at a young age how invisible I became on two wheels.

Phone gazing I can't stand it. Where we lived it's legal to text and drive if you are over 21!

What? I'm positive the last person who rear ended me was texting, FB or whatever when they failed to stop. I wonder how the other few hundred drivers on I70 managed to do so?

 

[Walt34]

The sole reason we moved from near Washington, D.C. to WV was the traffic. Our commutes weren't that bad, mine was 15-20 minutes and DW's was 20-25, but it was the issue of having to plan our entire lives around the stupid traffic. I'd go grocery shopping at 7:00 AM Sunday morning when the store opened for example just to avoid having to deal with the traffic. I started buying stuff online instead of going to local stores to avoid the traffic.

A fond dream is that that when the stupid moronic idiot imbecile politicians who allowed that to happen is that when they pass on the devil makes them sit in traffic for all of eternity. With full bladders.

BTW, I don't blame the traffic engineers, they know how much traffic a given road can carry. I blame the politicians who allow overbuilding and not funding adequate roads.

 

[Sunset]

I dislike driving through Atlanta due to the traffic, it STOPS so much.

Around here, I like others avoid the rush hours and have found I have a slight dread at driving 20 miles, due to traffic situations or construction that I no longer know about so it's a surprise.

The texter's make me look in the rear view mirror when I'm going to brake/turn, as I want to know should I brace myself
I'm thinking of hooking up a horn/beeper to my brakes so everytime I brake they get a toot to look up.

 

[MissGina]

Lately I've been looking in my rear view mirror every time I brake too, because I just don't have time for somebody to rear end me so I'd rather drive for me and them [emoji19]. And I really thought Washington, DC had bad traffic until I had training in Atlanta. Coming from the airport late one evening to go North was still just as bad.

 

[Ronstar]

I've been caught in some nasty traffic during the last few months in Seattle, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, London and Dublin. Tough to say which one was the worst, but Chicago wins the award during big snow storms.

 

[exnavynuke]

I've been caught in some nasty traffic during the last few months in Seattle, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, London and Dublin. Tough to say which one was the worst, but Chicago wins the award during big snow storms.

Atlanta wins for worst traffic during snow storms

 

[Dawg52]

There are some negatives living in a small town. Five o'clock traffic is not one of them. The drive home was 10-15 minutes tops. Main thing I have to deal with around here is working around school hours. A high school is nearby so early and mid-afternoon traffic can be congested. But even that doesn't compare to people dealing with Atlanta's rush hour.

 

[O2Bfree]

Traffic in the Seattle area is so bad that when DH and I looked for a house 13 years ago, our main requirement was that it be within 10 miles of both of our workplaces. I got the better end of the deal, 1.5 miles from my work. He's 7 miles away, but he retired this year (at 57).

 

[gerntz]

We usually avoid certain highways between the hours of 10 and 2 as well.

If you have to avoid certain highways in that timeframe, I assume you only drvive between midnight & 4 am. 10-2 is as about as good as it gets during daylight most places.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Atlanta wins for worst traffic during snow storms [emoji23]

You mean so-not-a-snow storm!

 

[MRG]

Snip

BTW, I don't blame the traffic engineers, they know how much traffic a given road can carry. I blame the politicians who allow overbuilding and not funding adequate roads.

+1

It can be determined what the queue is going to be. Same thing for women's restrooms! Holy cow how come someone cannot figure this out? I think the formula is the same.

 

[Sue J]

One of the best things about our small city life (outside of Akron, OH) is that rush hour means that you have to sit through 2 RED LIGHTS! We do have a freeway and that does experience rush hour from about 7am to 9am and 4pm to maybe 6:30pm, weekdays. We can easily avoid the freeway during those times.

We both grew up in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland and one of the reasons I would never live there again is that the traffic is awful. Not Atlanta or NYC or Chicago or Houston kind of awful but bad enough to keep me out of there. There is a large retail area near where my Dad lived and even on the weekends the traffic was bad.

 

[GrayHare]

Unlike many eastern US cities, Atlanta was not built on a major river and thus does not have as many bridge bottlenecks as the other cities. With more road options why is traffic worse in Atlanta?

 

[MooreBonds]

Unlike many eastern US cities, Atlanta was not built on a major river and thus does not have as many bridge bottlenecks as the other cities. With more road options why is traffic worse in Atlanta?

Whenever you have highways merging, or a major arterial road(s) merging onto the highway, you will have bottlenecks. When you have several million people living in a metro area, and a large % of them work in the city limits, all trying to go there (in the morning) or leave (in the afternoon), you will experience bottlenecks.

If all cars were computer-controlled and maintained a steady speed with a small separation distance, it would be better (but even then, there is a limit to how many cars you can safely squeeze for a given speed per hour per lane). Add in just a few drivers hesitating or waiting or causing just a 5-10 second delay, and you instantly have backup with hundreds of cars behind that one car also slowing down and adding to the slowness.

 

[GrayHare]

Whenever you have highways merging, or a major arterial road(s) merging onto the highway, you will have bottlenecks. When you have several million people living in a metro area, and a large % of them work in the city limits, all trying to go there (in the morning) or leave (in the afternoon), you will experience bottlenecks.

If all cars were computer-controlled and maintained a steady speed with a small separation distance, it would be better (but even then, there is a limit to how many cars you can safely squeeze for a given speed per hour per lane). Add in just a few drivers hesitating or waiting or causing just a 5-10 second delay, and you instantly have backup with hundreds of cars behind that one car also slowing down and adding to the slowness.

Very true, but all of that is present in the other cities as well as Atlanta.

 

[gerntz]

Unlike many eastern US cities, Atlanta was not built on a major river and thus does not have as many bridge bottlenecks as the other cities. With more road options why is traffic worse in Atlanta?

I'll hazard a guess: 2000-2010, HOU, DFW, and ATL added the most people of all metro areas at over 1M each & in low +20%'s. Haven't spent time in HOU, but a lot in DFW & ATL. My observation is that DFW built many more new highways in that period than ATL did. Hence, more road crowding in ATL.

 

[exnavynuke]

I'll hazard a guess: 2000-2010, HOU, DFW, and ATL added the most people of all metro areas at over 1M each & in low +20%'s. Haven't spent time in HOU, but a lot in DFW & ATL. My observation is that DFW built many more new highways in that period than ATL did. Hence, more road crowding in ATL.

The influx of people is obvious if you live here. I've been here since 2008 and commute 20 miles one way from north of the city to just inside the city (at the perimeter). In 2009, I would leave the house at 7:30 to get to work at 8. By 2012 I needed to leave the house by 7:15 to get to work by 8. In order to have a 30 minute commute now I leave the house at 5:30 and get to work about 6.

After a couple years it was obvious that each year, in August (when school goes in session here) and after the New Year, I could fairly accurately predict an additional 5 minutes of commuting time if I left at the same time as I did the previous year. By 6am the interstate is below the speed limit in many areas due to congestion. The construction in progress is making traffic a bit worse now but should get it back to how bad it was last year when it opens up the new lane(s) in a couple years.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

The influx of people is obvious if you live here. I've been here since 2008 and commute 20 miles one way from north of the city to just inside the city (at the perimeter). In 2009, I would leave the house at 7:30 to get to work at 8. By 2012 I needed to leave the house by 7:15 to get to work by 8. In order to have a 30 minute commute now I leave the house at 5:30 and get to work about 6.

After a couple years it was obvious that each year, in August (when school goes in session here) and after the New Year, I could fairly accurately predict an additional 5 minutes of commuting time if I left at the same time as I did the previous year. By 6am the interstate is below the speed limit in many areas due to congestion. The construction in progress is making traffic a bit worse now but should get it back to how bad it was last year when it opens up the new lane(s) in a couple years.

When I first started driving, the metro Atlanta area had 3 million people. Today, it's almost 6 million. Back in 1992, the general rule was that you could get almost ANYWHERE in the metro area in 30 minutes or less. Today...not the case. Not only that, if you read some of the population studies, they will tell you that Atlanta isn't even at 50% of its population "capacity"...yeah, I don't think so.