QOTD: Where Have You Encountered the Worst Traffic?

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

Matt wrote earlier about 15-minute cities by featuring plans being made in Cleveland. The purpose of these cities is basically to set up neighborhoods so that anything residents want or need is within a 15-minute walk -- thus reducing automobile traffic.


As much as I love driving, this is part of why I pay way too much to live in the city of Chicago proper as opposed to the suburbs, even though I grew up in the 'burbs. It's so I don't have to drive everywhere I go -- I can walk, bike, use public transit, or hire a cab/rideshare.

On the other hand, I do drive a fair bit. Some of this is so I can test cars -- can't do much testing when the vehicle is parked in the garage -- and sometimes I drive because I need/want to go places that are only easily accessible by driving. And sometimes, I just find it faster/easier than using public transit.

The flip side of this is that I often deal with Chicago's horrendous traffic. It was even worse when I was younger and commuted to and from the suburbs on a daily basis for school and/or work.

As bad as Chicago traffic is, I've dealt with LA's notoriously terrible traffic jams. New York's, too -- I will never forget the time I was in the Bronx and watched as someone tried to change lanes. Other drivers wouldn't let them in, and two lanes of traffic got clogged.

Boston is bad, too. Nashville has been problematic when I've been there. And I spent significant time in Baltimore from 2015-2018 -- driving in Maryland is an experience that I'd not wish on my enemies.

To be clear, this isn't about places with the worst drivers -- though as my examples show, bad driving can and does cause traffic problems -- but the places you've driven with the worst traffic.

Chicago is, sadly, always high on those lists of "cities with bad traffic problems" you see floating around in the media a few times a year. Traffic and winter are the two things I hate most about this city, and I cringe thinking about much time I've lost sitting in traffic. It's depressing.

So, what city or town or whatever has the worst traffic you've encountered?

Sound off below.

[Image: Nikola Fific/Shutterstock.com]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Mar 21, 2024

    A few tears back I was coming out of the backcountry late winter. Sun was setting. By the time I had hit the rural highway I saw something like 24 moose. There were several big bulls with their harems.

  • EAM3 EAM3 on Mar 21, 2024

    Miami. You used to be able to drive from anywhere in Broward county into Miami in under an hour. Now it seems to take an hour just to go a few miles.

  • Pig_Iron 💝
  • Geozinger Put in the veggie garden (Western Michigan, we still can get frost this late in the year) finished the remainder of the landscaping updates and hand washed both my beater Pontiac and the Town and Country! Going to the beach today...
  • Rochester I wouldn't obsess over the rate of change, it's happening whether we want it or not.
  • EBFlex At the summer property putting boats in the water, leveling boat lifts, cleaning the lots for summer, etc. Typical cabin stuff in the most beautiful place on the planet
  • Lou_BC I've I spent the past few days in what we refer to as "the lower mainland". I see Tesla's everywhere and virtually every other brand of EV. I was in downtown Vancouver along side a Rivian R1T. A Rivian R1S came off as side street and was following it. I saw one other R1S. 18% of new vehicles in BC are EV'S. It tends to match what I saw out my windshield. I only saw 2 fullsized pickups. One was a cool '91 3/4 ton regular cab. I ran across 2 Tacoma's. Not many Jeeps. There were plenty of Porches, Mercedes, and BMW's. I saw 2 Aston Martin DBX707's. It's been fun car watching other than the stress of driving in big city urban traffic. I'd rather dodge 146,000 pound 9 axle logging trucks on one lane roads.
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