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America's 75 Worst Commutes

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Swede Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:25 PM
Original message
America's 75 Worst Commutes
My commute is 12-15 minutes,I could not imagine the hours stuck in traffic.


It’s America’s collective nightmare, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and like Groundhog Day, it repeats on a daily basis.

Congestion consumes billions of gallons of fuel, wastes hundreds of billions of dollars in productivity and causes billions of stress headaches. Yet over 100 million automobile commuters each day feel like they have little option. “We put so much of our national wealth and our identity into the whole motoring thing,” says James Howard Kunstler, author of Geography of Nowhere, “that we can’t imagine doing something different.”


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-19/americas-75-worst-commutes/?cid=hp:mainpromo6
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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:27 PM
Response to Original message
1. Wow! I am surprised. I thought NYC would be in the top 10 at least 5 times.
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leftynyc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:44 PM
Response to Reply #1
10. I think
they might put alternate modes being available as a qualifier. If that's the case, our mass transit systems are the best in the country.
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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 08:25 PM
Response to Reply #10
25. True....gotta admit that.
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crim son Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:29 PM
Response to Original message
2. I simply will not do it.
It's a quality of life issue.
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tonysam Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:30 PM
Original message
Reno, of course, is too small to make the list
The so-called "spaghetti bowl" where I80 and Highway 395 intersect is pretty damned bad during rush hour.
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PDJane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:30 PM
Response to Original message
3. There are reasons I live dowtown.......
The commuting thing is a big one. Even though Toronto has a decent transit system, the hours wasted sitting on a train or bus or whatever just gets on my last nerve. The whole idea of having to purchase a car gives me hives. Thanks, but no thanks. I'll live either in the core or in a small town......no suburbs for me.
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Motown_Johnny Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:31 PM
Response to Original message
4. Hey... a bottom 10 list that Detroit isn't part of...
I guess when enough people are without work then the commutes get easier
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superduperfarleft Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:32 PM
Response to Original message
5. If the DC beltway is only #3, I can't imagine how bad the top two are.
I look forward to root canals more than I do a drive through DC/NOVA, at ANY hour.
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renegade000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:33 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. and our new va. governor, taliban bob,
just told everyone that he's not going to bother addressing transportation in 2010...
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superduperfarleft Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:37 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. I haven't been back to VA in a while, but why isn't that political suicide?
The roads are notoriously bad down there, and I'd think people would be calling for his head for saying something so stupid.

When people in my adopted state complain about the roads, I just laugh and tell them to visit Richmond sometime.
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ixion Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:34 PM
Response to Original message
7. I have driven most of those at one time or another... I have driven four on a sustained basis
The commute in Miami was the worst. I was spending between 3 and 5 hours a day in the car driving on a white-knuckle interstate.

I'm very happy to work from home now. :)

The Four I drove on a regular basis:
San Francisco
Austin
Tampa
Miami

They are every bit as crazy as you'd imagine.
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notesdev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:41 PM
Response to Original message
9. Missing: New Jersey
Some really bad commutes in northern NJ, surprised none of them are on the list.
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ceile Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:47 PM
Response to Original message
11. Austin I-35 #4.
Totally accurate. I never get on 35 to any where in this town. Even going to San Antonio I try to take back roads as long as I can before getting on.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:49 PM
Response to Original message
12. My poor brother did the Hollywood Freeway at least once a day for ten years
as a working musician. It probably aged him. Once I was down there for a wedding and looking out the hotel window, I saw a vast parking lot. It took me a few minutes to realize it was THE FREEWAY. :wow:
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Liberal_in_LA Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 03:33 PM
Response to Reply #12
23. That's life in LA. I've done the hollywood commute, currently doing the 101 to 405 commute.
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Subdivisions Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:51 PM
Response to Original message
13. It was DFW traffic jams that convinced me I was in the wrong business. Now
Edited on Tue Jan-19-10 02:53 PM by Subdivisions
my daily commute consists of walking from my bedroom to my office and doesn't involve always involve pants.

And, #15 is one I am intimately familiar with. At least I was until a couple years ago.
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argyl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 03:09 PM
Response to Reply #13
22. Surprisingly, none of these commutes were in Dallas,Collin,or Denton County.
Loop 820 belts Fort Worth and is in Tarrant County.As many snarled up sections of I-35 E,I-45,I-20, I-30,LBJ Freeway,Hwy.121,etc.,as I wind up fuming in and none of these make the top 75? I demand a recount.
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Tierra_y_Libertad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:52 PM
Response to Original message
14. I drove #16, Portland, OR, for 6 years. An exercise in profanity.
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ShortnFiery Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:53 PM
Response to Original message
15. Arrgh! #3 - The Capitol Beltway is our nemeses: creeping along at 21 mph.
#3, Capital Beltway, surrounds Washington DC
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 194
Worst bottleneck: Southbound, Exit 2A-B
Length of worst bottleneck: 1.26 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 31
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 21.2 mph
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Retrograde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:54 PM
Response to Original message
16. Where's 880 in Oakland?
Especially the section leading onto the Bay Bridge from the north? And that stretch on 101 near Great America that just stops every evening?
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Jokerman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:55 PM
Response to Original message
17. Bad Info for Indianapolis
#56, I-65, Indianapolis
Weekly hours of bottleneck congestion: 19
Worst bottleneck: Northbound, 82nd St/Exit 1
Length of worst bottleneck: .9 mi
Weekly hours of congestion on worst bottleneck: 9
Speed of worst bottleneck when congested: 20.1 mph


I think they mean I-69. There is NO 82nd street exit on I-65 in Indianapolis.
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tango-tee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:58 PM
Response to Original message
18. I don't even have a driver's licence.
To get to work, I hop on the subway, then transfer to a bus and get to my stop after a total time of 45 minutes after walking out of the front door. Read a book or magazine, no problems, no hassles, no one giving me the finger at 7 a.m. for doing something they don't like.
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rrneck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 02:59 PM
Response to Original message
19. Suddenly I feel very lucky.
My commute:
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nomorewhopper Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 03:00 PM
Response to Original message
20. i can think of 50 roadways around nyc that are worse than i84 in boise or 690 in syracuse
this list is a joke.
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ParkieDem Donating Member (417 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 03:06 PM
Response to Original message
21. Only ONE DFW area road is on this list?
And that one is in Tarrant county? No 75? No 635? You're kidding, right?
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CakeGrrl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jan-19-10 04:26 PM
Response to Original message
24. Seattle is underrepresented
I-405 is terrible in both directions at different points depending on which rush hour it is, as is SR-520.

Our problem is that we only have two major interstates in the area and one loop. The secondary routes have lots of bottlenecks.

My 21-mile commute from my home just northeast of Seattle to the SODO district is about 30 minutes on a VERY good day, but it's typically 45 to 60 minutes. On a nasty day heading home from SODO, it's been closer to 80-90 minutes.
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