Worst Expressways

[Dalton 23]

I think you managed to get a picture of the same place I put the map up.

That is the 427 interchange right?

Originally posted by: justanothersim86 The 401 doesn't have the worse traffic, but it is the most chaotic stretch of road I've been on. Why?

Busiest highway in NA+8 lanes in each direction+"collecter" lanes you have to merge into to get off+rush hour traffic+4 different highways intersecting in the same area+Pearson international airport nearby +loads of transport trucks attempting to switch lanes all the time= a horrific mess.

If your a first time driver, avoid.

Doesn't look bad in the pic, but wait till rush hour comes. quote>

[DuskTrooper 314]

Originally posted by: Micah

Originally posted by: DuskTrooper I-45 N, Houston

Ugly...quote>

 

Wow, I thought you were going to say "south"!

When was the last time you used I-45 N?  They have added a whole forest along all of the highway with trees on everyside (From the Greenspoint area all the way to Conroe). Once the trees grow, it will look even better. quote>

The "forest" looks sickly, and dying.  The shoddy businesses, and low cost housing that are clearly visible from the highway are still there.  I-45 north is the most depressing freeway in Houston.

[adpbns777 0]

No, I put up a picture of the interchange in Atlanta, GA (Interstate 85 and Interstate 285).  Although they do look very similar.  This is a photo from the road-level:

I remember the first time me and my parents saw this when we were driving down to visit my college.  We were awestruck at it.  We are from New York, which is just a huge highway mess, but I don't remember seeing any interchanges so grand and high before.

Edited one year later for image resizing. - Dalai

[justanothersim86 83]

Dalton: Actually, it is the 403/410 interchange on the 401. Not as bad as the 427 interchange. I can tell by the sign in the foreground that reads: Hamiltion QEW via 403.

[Abc987 3]

Intersate 95 between Baltimore and Washington. Crazy in the holiday season!

[Wolves 0]

heh ever been on the M6 and Aston Expressway junction in Birmingham, Spaghetti Junction?

Over 80 miles of road + rail + canal in one little jumbled mess. Many major roads meet here as well as the M6 and Aston Expressway.

[Fresh Prince of Wmbg 44]

Interstate 64 in between Williamsburgand Newport News . About 24 miles only 8 exits.

 During the summer its the worst because tourist use this to go Virginia Beach , Busch Gardens,or Water Country. At least once a day the is a traffic accident that cause traffic jams because of everyone want to slow down and look. Going westbound during 2PM-8PM irrationable because the left lane merges and   the interstate turns from three lanes to two going for Fort Eustis in Newport News. Everyone tries merge on  at the last minute too..

[JakeMD 107]

35W in mineapolis, its under construction, and a bridge collapsed, can it get any worse?

[IDS2 3,346]

Hard to say. Probably 580 east from Hayward to Tracy, California at rush hour. It really sucks...it looked like a 35 mile parking lot.

By the way, joexcooldude, what is the bridge in your avatar?

Oh and I forgot...like Swatmedic said, 35W is awful...lots of roads in MSP are bad.

[Amerikaner 42]

okay a REALLY bad area is ANY highway in Austin, there are two main highways that run north south on either side of downtown , then theres the NEW tool road but thats on the east side (never drive there except for the airport which i still wouldnt take it) and then a simi-loop on the west side, never really use it as its west of my house but anyway because austin is so suburban literally 90% of the people that live here are on the motorways at 6-8pm, and 7-10 am....its crazy to the EXTREME, you get like 2 miles in 45 mins and even more annoying is that even though you dont have to people here stop at the Yield signs when no cars are coming...so that starts traffic jams where the freeways meet, its really annoying and austin planned poorly...but they wernt expecting the 200,000 people increase in 10 years either i suppose

[Shingure 56]

Try the Vine and Schukyll expressway in Philadelphia is hell on black asphalt. But in the early morning before rush hour people are busy doing 70 to 80 When the speed limit is 50. It's a high speed hotmess.

[mencc1701 0]

My vote also goes to the 401, it's ridiculous. This pic was probably taken around midafternoon, 1 or 2 PM, maybe. At rush hour, this section would be jammed bumper to bumper.

[djrules5454 5]

I'd say Crosstown (MN 62), either I-35 (E and W) within the I-494/I-694 beltway, I-94 between within the beltway, I-494 between US 169 and the Minnesota River, and 1-394, though those are probably not the worst by any means (at least they're civilized and organized, right?).

[Kippis05 2]

I would cast my vote for the I-94/ I-290 Interchange near Downtown Chicago... We affectionatley call it "The Loop" and justly so. The interchange was bad enough before they begun construction of the I-94 corridor between Bronzeville and Downtown.. It's a living nightmare 24-7 o_O

[_MostlyHarmless 17]

Originally posted by: Kippis05 I would cast my vote for the I-94/ I-290 Interchange near Downtown Chicago... We affectionatley call it "The Loop" and justly so. The interchange was bad enough before they begun construction of the I-94 corridor between Bronzeville and Downtown.. It's a living nightmare 24-7 o_Oquote>

Actually it's called the "Circle" Interchange, but yea...that is among the worst in the nation.

Circle Interchange: 293,671 vehicles daily, 25,068, 000 annual hours of delay.

Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0931285.html

[Haljackey 17,332]

For those who Have said Highway 401 is the worst expressway, its actually bittersweet.  Take a look at these facts

Highway 401 is the BUSIEST highway in the world since 2006, not just the busiest highway in North America!

Highway 401 is also one of the world's safest highways.  A posted speed limit of 100kph helps keep things okay, even with ppl going 120kph most of the time.

Just naming a few Safety features

-Both Right and left paved shoulders

-Ontario tall wall median (similar to a Jersey median, but larger and stronger)

-High-mast lighting in urban areas and at most major interchanges

-A design speed of at least 130kph, posted at 100kph though.

The highway is in good shape for most of its length.  Since it is the world's busiest highway, the asphalt gets a ton of poundings from all those cars and trucks, so the highway always under construction somewhere along its length. 

Heres some images of the conditions

Before:

After

Click these pictures for FULL resolution!

And in the big 18 lane collector/express system through Toronto

Under repairs:

In good condition:

The 401 is NOT the worst highway/expressway in the world, but it is the busiest!

My vote goes either to the M25 in London or some highway in Detroit (they all are bad)

-Haljackey

[The_Dalai_Llama 15]

Ooh... classic threads.  I nearly rear-ended a car that rear-ended another car on I-95N in New Hampshire just before the tolls... Saturdays on that stretch of highway is pure hell for about an hour.

[Explodingsims 3]

Originally posted by: Wolves heh ever been on the M6 and Aston Expressway junction in Birmingham, Spaghetti Junction?

quote>

 

Umm, What happened to that 6-lane strech in the center there?

[Haljackey 17,332]

Wow, those highway interchanges look too complicated for their own good, but we are talking about the highway themselves here, not the interchanges.

[diva613 0]

Worst highway i would have to say in Ontario and possibly north America are the ones around Ottawa,

Highway 416 - Begins as an offshoot a direct link between Ottawa and the Seaway valley. - This highway needs to get more people on it.

Highway 417 - Major Artery, 4 lanes outside of Kanata and 417/174 Split. Between Kanata and 417/174 Split is eight laned... HORRIBLE CONGESTION! Imagine workers in Canada's fourth largest city that work downtown all on one highway... yeah...

Highway 174 - This is between Montreal and Ottawa, this is only four laned... pretty annoying.

Just overall the highways in this city need to be revamped, there is a rumour mill around stating that the province of ontario may be expanding the highways... in my eyes unless if this is done to the whole section of highway between 17/417 meet ( just outside of Kanata) all the way to the 174's Orleans cut off, all that is going to result in is more commuter headaches.

[diva613 0]

Originally posted by: A Killer Ewok

401 highway, Toronto.

 

never been there, but from what i've heard, its really busy all the time.

quote>

 

LOL Been to Toronto, the 401 is great for capacity, but is confusing as all H#$$ They have a two to four laned feeder highway(on both sides) for local traffic connecting to the actual 401 via onramps/road barriers, I think the actual 401 is about 6 to 8 lanes. 

It is annoying at first, but you get used to it, like i have said before, it is ten times better than the 416,417,17,174 in Ottawa.  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Originally posted by: A Killer Ewok

401 highway, Toronto.

 

never been there, but from what i've heard, its really busy all the time.

quote>

True, and a real 12-lane nightmare, especially in the concrete spaghetti at the west end of Toronto, but the stretch of that highway the gets the highest number of Darwin awards is between Windsor and Woodstock.

[DFire870 2]

Originally posted by: Amerikaner okay a REALLY bad area is ANY highway in Austin, there are two main highways that run north south on either side of downtown , then theres the NEW tool road but thats on the east side (never drive there except for the airport which i still wouldnt take it) and then a simi-loop on the west side, never really use it as its west of my house but anyway because austin is so suburban literally 90% of the people that live here are on the motorways at 6-8pm, and 7-10 am....its crazy to the EXTREME, you get like 2 miles in 45 mins and even more annoying is that even though you dont have to people here stop at the Yield signs when no cars are coming...so that starts traffic jams where the freeways meet, its really annoying and austin planned poorly...but they wernt expecting the 200,000 people increase in 10 years either i supposequote>

Actually, Austin did not plan poorly. On TexasFreeway.com, there are some very interesting diagrams of a world-class freeway system proposed for the Austin metro area in the 1980's. However, it fell through because the environmentalists basically took over city council. But now, versions of those freeways are being built now (SH 130 is the latest version of MoKan Expressway, for example).

But honestly, the new toll roads have drastically helped with traffic. I live in Round Rock, and it's sooo much easier to get to downtown Austin via Loop 1 now that the tolled parts of SH 45 and Loop 1 are completed. But the worst times for traffic are really between 6:30-9 am and then 4-7 pm.

[mencc1701 0]

Originally posted by: diva613 Worst highway i would have to say in Ontario and possibly north America are the ones around Ottawa,

Highway 416 - Begins as an offshoot a direct link between Ottawa and the Seaway valley. - This highway needs to get more people on it.

Highway 417 - Major Artery, 4 lanes outside of Kanata and 417/174 Split. Between Kanata and 417/174 Split is eight laned... HORRIBLE CONGESTION! Imagine workers in Canada's fourth largest city that work downtown all on one highway... yeah...

Highway 174 - This is between Montreal and Ottawa, this is only four laned... pretty annoying.

Just overall the highways in this city need to be revamped, there is a rumour mill around stating that the province of ontario may be expanding the highways... in my eyes unless if this is done to the whole section of highway between 17/417 meet ( just outside of Kanata) all the way to the 174's Orleans cut off, all that is going to result in is more commuter headaches.quote>

 

Being familiar with both Toronto and Ottawa, I would say that Toronto is much worse. The 417 has it's problems, sure, but it's got nothing on the 401... I find the 417 to be a much easier drive, overall. Traffic on both can be equally bad. Plus, Ottawa has no highway that's quite as badly designed as the Don Valley Parkway (locally refered to as the Don Valley Parking Lot).

[Haljackey 17,332]

Originally posted by: mencc1701  Plus, Ottawa has no highway that's quite as badly designed as the Don Valley Parkway (locally refered to as the Don Valley Parking Lot).quote>

Ah, the DVP.  The 401 is the world's busiest highway as to the DVP is as the world's longest parking lot! 

Thats municipal VS. provincial highway funding and design there for ya!

At least none of the highways are federally funded, just look at some of those messes in other countries (**cough cough**).  Just be glad all our highways don't look like the DVP!  The 400-Series highways have been voted the #1 safest highways in the world for many years now!

[bakercity 270]

I-94 / I-294 split (Lake-Cook Road). I-94 goes towards Downtown Chicago and I-294 goes around Chicago. During rush hour, I-94 portion get backed up past the former toll plaza into Lake County, Illinois or backed up to about 5 mile away sometimes. In Wisconsin, I have to say the Marquette Interchange (I-94 / I-794 / I-43 in Downtown Milwaukee) is udergoing a major reconstruction project causing some back ups with accidents mixed in. Just yesterday, the travel time from Waukesha to Downtown Milwaukee was about 45 minutes for 10 mile distance. JKB

[Olympian 1]

I-95 just south of Wilmington, DE. There is ten lanes (5 in each direction) I believe. Everytime I go through there traffic is always tied up there is no good time to drive through there. The reason I suppose is because 95 is the only highway connecting the Northern cities of New York and Philly to Washington D.C. and Baltimore so all the traffic is funneled through this highway and to make that even worse there is a mall and interchange for route 1 in Delaware. So to add to that route 1 is one of the only highways that go down into the Delmarva peninsula. So traffic really sucks there. To make it even worse as I was driving though there one time someone had the genius idea to do road work at rush hour and close all but 1 lane. How stupid.

[Duke87 1,070]

↑ Not to mention the service area there which is home to the world's slowest gas pumps.

[Nomis 0]

Originally posted by: silverlightning81 Long Island Expressway and the New Jersey Turnpike are the worst highways here in the NY Area....in my opinionquote>

jersey turnpike, cant agree more

[LarksTonguesInAspic 28]

I didn't look back to see if it was mentioned, but I have to say, "The Bottleneck" (or locally known as the 'Hillside Strangler') in Chicago's west 'burbs, where I-88 merges into I-290, the two expressways together are squeezed into 1 lane from 6. Some of the poorest planned road engineering I can think of.

It makes some people just crazy, they go onto the shoulder and then try to force their way back in. Sometimes there's a state trooper just waiting to bust them, but not nearly often enough.