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.

  • TheMrFreeze JD Power's surveys mean nothing to me. We live in an age where we have unprecedented access to actual, relevant data, and by that I mean working mechanics who see all of these cars up close and are willing to share what's good and what's crap. The wife drives a Fiat 500...had I listened to JD Power or Consumer Reports or whatnot we never would have bought one, but more than one mechanic I talked to said they were pretty reliable cars. Bought one, guess what...it's been reliable.
  • Akear Mary Barra has little or no feel for the market. This is yet another reason why GM will perform better when she retires. Barra's track record at GM is about as good as Biden debate performance last week.
  • Peter Nissan should hire someone to explain basic economics to their Board of Directors.
  • Jeff China now has the manufacturing capacity to produce 1/3 of the World's vehicles but under the current geopolitical environment this will not happen. As someone above stated all bets are off if China invades Taiwan. What many don't understand is that China plans for the long term and can wait it out till the geopolitical environment becomes less hostile toward China. I am not endorsing Chinese trade just stating that China is preparing for the future.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Im glad it was fixed in time that would’ve been a huge pain and inconvenience to you if it had broke. My 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 has been great with no recalls. My 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60 actually had a recall for the gas tank and seat belt warning stickers about 10 years go and Toyota fixed it, got a new tank, fuel lines and stickers.
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