Austin - #4 in nation for worst daily commute (but we already knew that)

[Scottolini]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Gross. Can you imagine a highway one block north of the capitol?

Or instead of Cesar Chavez and the Esplanade, along with the Hike and Bike Trail we had a "Waterfront Expressway". Or in West campus, just west of Guadalupe, there was a freeway.

[PartyLine]

Someone mentioned a tunnel I10 through downtown Phoenix is a tunnel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papago_Freeway_Tunnel

[JAM]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Gross. Can you imagine a highway one block north of the capitol?

I'm having troubles with the one just a few blocks east !!!

[KevinFromTexas]

^We're about 2 miles from I-35, and I can hear it on clear, calm nights. The big rigs especially are easy to notice. I'm SO glad all those fugly highways never got built. It would have ruined the central part of the city.

[electricron]

Daily Grind
Best And Worst Cities For Commuters
Francesca Levy, 02.16.10, 06:00 AM EST
In these areas, urban sprawl and solo drivers are the difference between a hassle-free and a harrowing trek to work.

Commuter Rank Metropolitan Statistical Area
Travel Delay Rank- Green Commuter Ranking- Travel Time Rank
1 Salt Lake City, UT 26- 13- 11
2 Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY 2 36 1
3 Rochester, NY 1 40 2
4 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI 14 33 5
5 Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY 8 32 10
5 Fresno, CA 14 23 16
7 Tulsa, OK 8 48 4
8 Pittsburgh, PA 5 14 40
8 Tucson, AZ 31 18 23
10 Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH 4 41 14
11 Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA 38 8 31
12 Oklahoma City, OK 11 52 3
13 Albuquerque 22 28 22
14 Dayton, OH 5 54 6
14 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI 31 29 18
16 Las Vegas-Paradise, NV 42 22 20
17 Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT 11 46 12
18 Honolulu, HI 31 3 46
19 Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN 27 43 9
20 Kansas City, MO-KS 2 58 7
21 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC 22 37 19
22 Richmond, VA 5 44 21
23 Memphis, TN-MS-AR 11 49 15
23 San Antonio, TX 29 27 28
25 New Haven-Milford, CT 10 34 32
25 Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN 22 47 13
27 Austin-Round Rock, TX 38 17 36
28 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 38 6 48
29 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH 36 5 51
30 Columbus, OH 22 57 8
30 Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC 34 35 24
32 New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA 19 24 43
32 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD 37 9 49
32 Denver-Aurora, CO 45 21 33
35 Raleigh-Cary, NC 19 45 26
36 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ 42 16 44
36 Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, CA 48 15 42
36 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA 52 25 30
39 St. Louis, MO-IL 14 51 25
40 Jacksonville, FL 29 42 27
41 Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT 34 11 56
41 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA 58 2 53
43 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA 54 20 39
44 Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA 19 39 38
44 Baltimore-Towson, MD 45 12 52
46 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA 54 1 60
47 Indianapolis-Carmel, IN 28 59 17
48 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 57 4 59
49 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN 17 55 29
50 Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI 59 7 57
51 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA 60 10 54
52 Birmingham-Hoover, AL 17 56 34
53 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX 50 26 50
54 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA 52 19 58
55 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL 54 31 47
56 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 48 38 45
57 Orlando-Kissimmee, FL 42 50 37
58 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA 51 30 55
59 Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI 38 60 35
60 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL 45 53 41

1 Source: Texas Transportation Institute.
2 Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

I'll admit Austin-Round Rock isn't at the top of this list for the best commute, but both Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are lower......

[KevinFromTexas]

San Antonio is easy because most of the population is on the north side of the city, and 1604 is still relatively free flowing, and can still be widened if need be. Most of the southern part of the city is less populous, so the freeways there don't get much traffic. 410 can be hairy at spots, but it flows pretty good. I'm not too sure about I-10 as we almost never take it in San Antonio. I-37 isn't too bad. I think the worst one has to be I-35. Surprise!

[JAM]

Originally Posted by electricron

I'll admit Austin-Round Rock isn't at the top of this list for the best commute, but both Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth are lower......

During rush hour, I'd rather be in Houston than Austin. Austin comes to a grid lock, Houston still flows. In Houston, if there are two of us in the car, we can use HOV lanes, or a multitude of Toll roads are available. In Austin, my only choice is to sit and wait. In Austin try to take a back road.... nope, every other Austinite in town already thought of that..... Was in Houston last week, arrived in Katy at rush hour and cruised across town to Clear Lake area using HOV lanes unimpeded. There was a lot of traffic, (wow was there a lot of traffic), but it didn't have much impact on us. There's just no escaping it here in A-Town.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I'm not too sure about I-10 as we almost never take it in San Antonio.

10 is fine. There are a few bad spots (the traffic merging from 410 going north (westbound) is the bad standout, but it flows. 281 can be bad at spots as well.

[KevinFromTexas]

610 in Houston, particularly around Uptown is horrible. Everything else does flow well. I-10 there, at least right now with the construction is pretty bad. I-45 going into Galveston can be bad too.

[hookem]

Pretty much all of I-10 and some of 59 are pretty good since they widened them, but I still consider Houston traffic in another league compared to Austin. Rush hour is much longer, and while the HOV lanes are great, you've got to travel much farther in general. If you miss your exit in Houston, it's a lot less forgiving during the rush hours than Austin. You could be in for a 15-30 minute wait just to get back to where you were, since not all exits have a re-entry on the other side, traffic on the side streets and feeders is bad, everyone either trying to get on or off at EVERY exit... not just at certain exits like in Austin.

And 610, 290, and other parts of 59 get just as gridlocked as Mopac or I35 IMO.