I live near the 20/285 interchange on the East side and it's ABISMAL . Finally were getting a expansion but since it's not the most wealthy area like the Top End, I think it's gonna get delayed by some years. That one interchange backs up into the following county almost 15 miles out on the daily.
After the long distance highways were ruled out and it had to be a spur route, I knew it would be I-405. I think if you exclude rural areas on long highways and just look at congested urban sections, I think that I-95, I-5, I-10, I-75, and I-35 would be the top candidates.
I-75 hands down! Just wait till they start working on the Cincinnati bridge section over the OHIO river. A bridge that should have been replaced 30 years ago.
You miss I-94, which connects Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities. West of the Twin Cities it thins out a lot, but I would expect I-94 to contains some of the most heavily-traveled stretches of rural Interstate.
@Albo alt that is more like a standstill, only because practically al traffic has to pour into I-495 and there are no thru Interstates. This causes a bottleneck that extends all the way to Dumfries in the morning. It is awful.
When I see "mile markers" actually being posted in TENTHS of a mile, I kind of assume it's a traffic-laden stretch. (Hey, when you're down to 15 m.p.h. or less, it's always nice to see these markers showing you some progress.)
@@Saxshoe Perhaps I've lived in the rural U.S. too long. The "tenthers" are also a help if one breaks down--helps the road assistance folks find you easier. But, it is costly. Maybe 1/2 mile markers?
I live in LA and can confirm, 405/5/210/605 are highways fron hell. Kanye West even name drops the 405 in a song because of how famous it is. Good video!
No mention of 287 though. I used to live over there near Bound Brook and moved to trenton. Traffic is night and day. In the cities there are just so many ways to get different places that it is not usually congested unless it’s rush hour. On the other hand Bound Brook and the surrounding areas including Bridgewater were fucked when it comes to congestion. I always remember sitting in traffic on 287.
Everybody wants to bring up all these other locations, the highway here, the highway there.... I'm here to tell you, as a former truck driver, I had finished loading in the Torrance, CA one weekday about 10 or more years ago, and the route choice I had was the 405. It took me THREE hours to cover what should've been 20 minutes or so. And my company's yard was in Fontana, so coming south on I-5 out Oregon (the company I worked for is based in Oregon so we did A LOT of traveling along I-5) we had to use the 210, and it's every bit as bad as stated. And I've driven a lot of the roads mentioned, NONE of them compared.
The forsaken 72 miles of miserable carmagedon, which shall not be referred to by name, is the single worst freeway ever built. I drove on it once, hated it the whole time. If I ever get a nuclear weapon, the first thing I am bombing is that awful road.
Interstate 405 in California through its entirety goes through urban areas of LA and Orange County with no feasible mass transit options. This has got to be the most congested freeway in the US.
As someone who recently moved to Orange County from St.Louis, Missouri, I can say the 405 is bad, but it seems like the 5 is worse, IMO. I've also driven the 5 up between Tacoma and near the Canadian border in Washington, and it's god awful up there too.
If you look closely at a map of LA, you can see freeway intersections built but no freeways. There was supposed to be a freeway going from the 405 at La Cienaga Bl to the 101 at Highland Ave. This could have been a great airport freeway alternative.
I remember before they finished the express lanes between I-35 and the Central Expressway, I-635 was a highway that must be avoided at all cost (that stretch still sucks but at least the express lanes never have traffic if you’re able to spend a few bucks). Can’t wait for the current stretch they’re working on to be complete
I345 in downtown has everyone beat. It has 180,000 ADT and is only 1.7 miles long, which is 11.8 times higher than I405. 635 has 200,000 ADT but is 37 miles long, giving it a score of 5,400 AADT/mile, higher than 210 but lower than 405.
I live here in Dallas and it’s nothing compared to freeways in other states I’ve lived. It’s backed up but it’s no worse than interstate 270 in st.louis mov
Mentioning the 405, I can hear the voices of the Californians from SNL giving me directions through LA. "I think you should go home now, Devin! Get back on San Vicente. Take it to the 10, switch over to 405 North and let it dump you onto Mulholland -- where you belong!" "Stuart, the 405's gonna be jammed."
I guessed right! I just KNEW it had to be the San Diego Freeway. Untold DAYS of my life have been spent crawling that asphalt through the Sepulveda Pass, LAX, and OC.
If I had to pick one of the mainline interstates, it would definitely be either I-75 or I-95, based on the number of urban areas that these interstates pass through with areas prone to congestion. These interstates also have significantly higher than average traffic volumes in rural areas, even for the eastern United States, due to their proximities to the country's population center.
@@jameswells1743 Most of the bad parts on I-40 are in Tennessee and North Carolina. I-10, I-80, and 90 are probably the most heavily traveled east-west interstates, even though 70 probably also comes close.
Unfortunately, I've yet to see I-75 Atlanta traffic be really bad, since I always drove through that stretch anywhere from 3-5 AM in the morning on the way to Florida.
Gonna be honest, I was kind of shocked that I-610 in Houston wasn't mentioned. Especially since the section on the western side of Loop 610 between I-10 and US-59/I-69 is, or was, considered the worst stretch of highway on the interstate system. Plus rush hour on there is a PAIN!!!
Agreed! That portion is definitely the worst by far! Literally is like a parking lot all the time! Also, I-45 is pretty bad too, especially the northern portion between Beltway 8 and downtown Houston.
I can attest to this. I-45, I-610, and the Katy Freeway (I-10 W) are the undoubtedly nastiest freeways in the entire Houston area. Even Beltway 8 is getting nasty despite no more cash lanes on the toll road portion...
Interstates 90 and 94 from the northwestern suburbs to their southern split is pretty horrible as well. Constant construction and congestion. 290 from Hillside into the Chicago Loop is also bad.
Beaver, you should do a video just on southern California freeways. I think you'd have fun. You can probably spend hours just talking about the 91 freeway like we spend hours driving from Riverside to Orange County. We call it the Corona crawl.
I remember reading in an article (like 2019) where Corona was the #4 worst commute in the US. Palmdale (the 14) was the only Los Angeles commute that beat it for misery, at #1.
I have spent multiple hours in both directions going from Corona to Anaheim or vice versa on that freeway😂 I started taking the 241 thinking that would help but now traffic is regularly backed up thru the damn toll booths🤷🏼♂️😂
@@kytoober5137 Not sure where it stands today but even with the widening, it's still very very slow thru Corona. Heck, it's slow throughout its entire length. The entire length of the 91 is heavily traveled
Interesting analysis. As soon as you said "spurs" I knew I-405 in L.A. was going to be in contention. Ditto I-405 in Seattle and I-635 in Dallas. The only non-spur Interstate that might come close is I-4 in Florida. Not very long, almost all in urban areas.
@@jakem6720 Haha I'll bet, I'm not even from Chicago. The only reason I know about this is because I went to a white sox game last summer and was driving on the Eisenhower to crash at a friend's place in Oak Park and the traffic was hell even at 11PM lol
worst traffic ive seen is on the kennedy heading into chicago. it was a random saturday afternoon bumper to bumper. im not from chicago and don’t usually deal with that
I70 through Colorado is a nightmare, especially during the winter. What should be a 1 hour drive ends up taking 2-4 hours and there’s no practical alternative routes, meaning you HAVE to deal with it.
Ah yes who doesn't love the beautiful metropolis of Camden, New Jersey? What a lovely place with a booming economy, a vibrant nightlife, extremely low crime, and great schools
You should check out East St Louis, IL as well as Gary, IN and Youngstown, OH. Some truly incredibly prosperous cities that might be able to give Camden, NJ a run for its money
I’ve lived, worked, and played within 1/2 mile of the 405 my entire life. Many coastal places like the Westside, South Bay and OC beach cities have only the 405 to travel N or S - which creates this funnel effect. My old condo was at the 10/405 interchange on-ramps. It was a brutal existence, with bumper to bumper jams well into the night.
I used to think Houston traffic, especially the Katy Freeway, was bad until I went to school at UCLA. The 405 just puts everything else I have ever seen to shame when it comes to ridiculous traffic. When I started working downtown after graduating I'd just drive Wilshire the whole way to avoid the 405.
@@homerthompson416 If you were driving on Wilshire Blvd to downtown, you were avoiding the 10, not the 405. I know the numbering would be off but some of us think the 405 should be renamed the 666... I live in the San Fernando Valley and generally try to avoid having to go to West L.A. or Santa Monica. If I am going to the beach I'll go west (north, allegedly) on U.S. 101 and take one of the canyons (Topanga, Malibu, or Kanan Rd) to the Malibu beaches that are more scenic as well.
@@ZackfromNoHo Nope I was avoiding the 405 which was a nightmare from Wilshire to the 10 when I lived in the area. 10 wasn't nearly as bad in my experience.
@@davidloomis6668 I usually don't go that far south so I guess I've lucked out. But the worst part of I-5 for me is the southeasterly stretch from Downtown Los Angeles to Norwalk. That section of freeway *always* has traffic during the daytime, no matter what day of the week. It could be 1 PM on a Saturday and there will be traffic. And I'm like, where are all these people going???
This is so true. 405 is always fast except just past LAX to the Sepulveda Pass. The 5 is worse because of the congestion in Irvine to the 57 and then Cerritos to Burbank.
A large portion of 280 is 2 lanes with tight turns and bad exits/onramps, and there is a DRAWBRIDGE!! I feel like these factors ought to be considered.
I appreciate your slow change from being a freeway advocate to one who truly understands the positives and also many negatives of them. Coming from a city planner in Spokane WA. Big respect.
The practical reality is that freeways used to be cheap to build through farms, ranches, and orange groves sixty to forty years ago and not so cheap to build in any densely-populated area. Real estate is expensive even in slums, and so is the relocation of utilities. We may continue to build freeways in rural areas, but urban expressways are becoming extre3mely costly. Even adding lanes can be out of the question due to costs of the acquisition of land and relocation of utilities . . Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas are building urban or suburban expressways, but these involve land already condemned for such use on a build-and-lease basis with hefty tolls for those who use those routes.
@@paulbrower4265 Then, let us take an authoritarian approach. Do eminent domain, and then say the land is a tax payment, and reduce whatever anyone involved would pay in taxes by that amount. Then, for labor, offer road contractors to pay business taxes in labor on the project, and then get this thing built.
@@dannypipewrench533 how come you advocate for highways? I’m specifically speaking of highways in cities since you seemed to say you support them in general.
@@skygge1006 Well, I like the freedom they offer to the traveler. No need to wait for the train to stop at the next station in order to go back home all of a sudden. Of course, you do have to wait for the next exit, which might be a problem if you are on I-70 in Utah... I know that traffic jams can be a problem. I figure we divert traffic around cities by upgrading existing roads into freeways. We put up toll stations on the roads into cities to discourage driving into them unless you need to. We will use traffic cameras to administer fines to anybody who drives through the city without getting off the highway. We raise the speed limit on the bypass route to encourage travelers with that sweet sweet 85 miles per hour. Basically, we try to make sure the cars in the city are there for the city, not just going through it. If we reduce the number of cars entering a city, we can counteract the negative effects of widening highways. Running a "double deck" freeway would double the size and capacity of the road. Of course, adding lanes ultimately makes traffic worse. But, doubling the size of a city's entire freeway network would not be caught by population growth for a long time, or maybe not at all if through traffic elimination is significant enough. A modular system would also allow much cheaper and less space-intensive expansion of freeways. An extra deck could be added whenever needed, each one essentially being a full, brand new freeway. A deck made of a steel grate would be light and cheap relative to other roads. Many bridges already use these. Segregating trucks and buses from cars would help. Truck routes help alleviate the traffic, but cars are usually still allowed to be with the trucks. Completely separating them could solve many problems. I live near Phoenix, Arizona. I am on the west side, so I have to deal with all of the traffic between Phoenix and Los Angeles. Los Angeles, of course, has a huge port, so I have to put up with a lot of trucks. There have been days where I had to wait on the on ramp for dozens of trucks to go by. The problem with our freeways is that they are being upgraded from roads built decades ago. What we need for good roads is a new approach to highway building. The Interstate System is drastically different from the nation highway network it improved. The old roads went right through cities and were little more than surface streets. Then came limited access Interstates. All we need is a big leap in highway design just like limited access when it was first introduced.
As a Floridian I find it interesting that you mentioned I-595, but not I-4 which is considered the worst interstate in the state and maybe even the whole country.
It is considered the most dangerous interstate in the country. Though I think most parts of I-4 is pretty simple, people just don't know how to drive on I-4
I definitely thought I-405 would make this list! Have you ever seen it around Thanksgiving? It's just a sea of brakelights one way and headlights the other direction. Out of curiosity, is there a reason the other spur routes that share the same number in other states weren't calculated in the math? I know Oregon (near Portland) and Washington (near Seattle) both have spur routes I-405 as well.
The worst mistake I did: I live in Stockton CA, and Study in Irvine. During thanksgiving I decided to visit family in NorCal. I did 9hrs! Most of the time I spent in the car was in the 405 through LA.
When I lived in Culver City, I did take I-405 the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, and it was the worst traffic ever - worse than what I've seen in Mexico City after a bullfight gets out. After living in Culver City for five years, in 1994 I moved to Venice and have stayed west of I-405 ever since. In Venice I was west of State Hwy 1 (Lincoln Blvd) and stayed there for 15 years until I finally settled in Westchester, close to I-405. Unfortunately, I am close to the Manchester exit (when approaching from the south), and the new sports stadium in Inglewood creates a lot of traffic for that exit. From the north, I take the La Tijera exist to get to my house.
I've traveled all 405s extensively (lived in WA, OC, LA, drove through Portland many times) and lo and behold the traffic is awful on all of them. In terms of Pain! its the LA/OC 405 in 1st, Seattle/Bellevue 405 in 2nd, and Portland 405 in 3rd. Seriously I would rather stick a broomstick up my ass than commute on a 405 again anywhere, did it for years and glad to be done with it. Other Cities say they have traffic but I've never experienced anything close to LA freeways at rush hour. Traffic in infamously congested Bangkok moved faster IMHO than LA traffic.
I-35 through Austin sucks so much ass. I have spent far too many hours of my life at a dead stop on that boiling piece of asphalt. These days I will do literally anything to avoid using it.
I go around it because I refuse to get close to it. At one point I was paying the tolls everyday to go on 130 but that became expensive real quick so I just take 183. I35 is HELL through austin even at night
Now if you did a survey of which downtown had the squirreliest travel its Kansas City MO everything for the most part is exit 2-something, and it's four highways all in a loop, most always your lane will exit only unless you take the median lane
As for the worst traffic? I'd say Hawai'i Interstate H1 takes the top. Especially in the evening, traffic is stop-and-go from the H2 exit to the East end of the interstate. Maybe Hawai'i warrants its own video. Either way, I feel that H1 is the busiest by its function, being the only major East-West connection on the south of the island. Of course, H201 and SR 99 are viable alternatives, but that can sometimes get just as congested (plus traffic lights!). Also, if anything goes wrong with the express lane in the morning, it becomes an absolute cluster-truck (literally in a sense). O'ahu is also getting a rapid transit line that is supposed to parallel the H1/SR 99 corridors.
It's a misleading metric to be sure. Honolulu has one thoroughfare that creates immense congestion. But, also, there are more cars on LA's freeways than there are people in the entire state of Hawaii. So, scale becomes an issue in ranking these places.
I am a Canadian who was a trucker for many years and I can say anywhere in the NJ/NY Metroplex is the worst traffic in the US did it for me. I278 and I 280. Honourable mention to the Beltway for me... Lucky for me, I didn't get to California often.. Oh, and if you come to Canada. Hwy 401 in Toronto or a jammed day on the TransCanada AR40 in Montreal will be the equal of any American city
@@JediTev I went to the upper part of the State around Sacramento and Stockton so I didn't get the SoCal experience that is true. But 6 hours to go 10 miles on many a NJ highway is pretty much my record for not moving on a highway.....
I definitely agree! I-295, I-678, I-478, I-695, and perhaps I-495 in NY also seem like good candidates. Upstate NY definitely drags down the average congestion for the state.
@@travelfiftystates314 it is really odd, I was searching for statistics on i-278 for half an hour, and it turns out that it only has a score of (3,542) by his metrics.
@@kazuichicarter-mcginty3565 Wow interesting. Maybe that is due to the lower capacity outside of the Staten Island stretch. Seems like this metric favors highways with more lanes since wide highways definitely worsens ADT.
Not nearly as bad. Live in Bellevue now, but from Socal. The California 405 trumps what east siders deal with in WA. Not to say it doesn't still suck 😂.
Surprised me as well when I realized Seattle has its own I-405 me being from SoCal. But yeah the Seattle 405 has nothing on LA 405 in terms of traffic. Especially during peak hours of LAX traffic just spilling onto the freeway.
The only congestion we get in Maine is the York Toll on I-95...and they finally finished adding an express lane for the EZ-Pass...so now it's only slow because the DOT is redoing Exit 7 where the booth used to be and it's kind of a mess right now. I-95 north of Augusta is basically barren, and north of Bangor has to be among the least-driven extended stretch of interstate in the country. If you're going to Canada from southern Maine, you're taking US-201 from Waterville to get to Québec City, the Bay Ferry in Bar Harbor if you want to go to Nova Scotia, or you're going through New Hampshire or Vermont if you're going to Montréal. And you're taking US-1 or ME-9 if you're going fishing on the border lakes between Maine and New Brunswick. I-95 is the fastest route to places no one wants to go to (except maybe Baxter State Park).
Hey, can you do a video about the massive growth in the last decade in Maricopa County, AZ (fastest growing county in the USA for 10 straight years) and the fall-out from this growth? We are SO much more crowded, yet Phoenix feels SO MUCH POORER than we ever were. What gives? Where's our damned tax base???
I downloaded the full FHWA summary and calculated vehicle miles traveled per lane mile. Based on that, 405 isn't the most congested interstate, but it's a very close third, narrowly beaten out by 395 and 238, in Miami and San Francisco respectively. And honestly, having been down to Miami, I can about guarantee you it does have the worst traffic in America. That's kind of what happens when you take America's biggest tourist hub and funnel it up against a protected swamp.
While Hwy 99 in CA isn't an interstate but, it's interesting that on the map at 0:11 in the video that shows traffic volume on interstates nationally, Hwy 99 appears to have heavy traffic from end to end through the San Joaquin Valley, rivalling the 5 in traffic. This particular corridor is frequently identified as the highest population corridor in the US without direct Interstate access. There have been talks of converting Hwy 99 into I-7 or I-9.
having lived in long beach about a mile from the 405, i will back up your claim. that thing was busy at 4 am. wanna get out of town for a weekend? leave at 3 am, or you will be stuck. only thing worse in the LA basin is likely the 91, which is almost never 'free running' . miss the guys on KNX with the traffic updates and the really old radio shows at 1am -4 am. My way to handle the situation? moved to Mexico. baja. nice. adiios y'all.
Wow im impressed houston wasn't mentioned much. Traffic here gets worse by the day, I'm glad you at least mentioned the Katy freeway though, that thing is hell.
Nice summary. I live about a mile from 95 exit 130 in central VA. The current “improvements” and attendant construction have caused more issues than they’ve resolved. It’s the worst interstate highway in the country, hands down, inclusive of its entire length. The urbanized terrain that is predominant Richmond to Boston is unparalleled by any other road. I’m on a coast to coast trip now and have reinforced my opinion by driving a host of highways including 5/405 in Cali, Oregon and Washington. They are nasty in stretches but don’t hold a candle to that 600 miles of 95 I just mentioned.
currently working on one of the projects by you in Fredericksburg. I know that when the project is finished, the congestion will just push further south/north after the GP/CD lanes are built. just hoping for a huge washington bypass route in the future.
@@McNasty_0 you are absolutely correct. If the powers to be were thinking they’d be building another span for the 301 Bridge and turn that into an interstate (97?) from outside of Baltimore all the way to RVA. Put tolls on it and you’d be way ahead of the curve.
Another great video! Keep up the awesome work, man! Yours is the first UA-cam channel that I've been subscribed to, from such an early point in the life of it! You're doing great! Again, thanks for the shout out!😁😁
I’d like to see a video on the opposite. What are the least traveled interstates in the country? One that comes to mind for me is I-57 from Chicago to Sikeston, MO. It’s about 400 miles long and about 95% of it is rural Also, interesting fact about I-57: Despite intersecting I-294 since its construction, the two did not have any interchange connecting them until 2014 and even then, it only allowed you to travel in the same direction (i.e you could not go between 294S and 57N or 294N and 57S) until last year
With the plans to extend I-57 to Little Rock, AR, this Interstate may become more utilized as it provides a fully freeway route from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and points south into the Midwest. Oklahoma has refused for decades to upgrade US 69 to Interstate standards and will not even bypass Muskogee. The Sooner State NIMBYs and corrupt local officials running speed traps will be bypassed thanks to the state DOTs in Arkansas and Missouri.
Since I live in Mission Hills CA, I am VERY close to the 405 and the 5 and surprisingly I don’t get much “freeway noise” keep in mind I can literally walk to the freeways so that’s surprising. But what I do see a lot is traffic ESPECIALLY during peak times like around 4 and 6 pm it gets SUPER congested but everyone’s used to it so 😂
It took me 5 hours to get from Thousand Oaks to Irvine via the 101 and 405, I was heading home to San Diego from college. That was three years ago and since then I've gone out of my way to avoid LA entirely.
I-270 and I-495 are definitely the worst here in the DMV. I never realized how they really compared to the LA spurs until watching this video. Thank you for enlightening me, and also making me count my blessings a little 😂
I-75 in Atlanta would not be nearly as congested if people who were traveling beyond Atlanta would use the I-285 bypass like they are supposed to. Of course, traffic in the city is still MUCH better than it is out in the suburbs outside of I-285 because everything is so spread out and car dependent out there.
Hey man, like the videos! Keep up the good work. Only thing is idk why but I think the beaver thing is kinda cringe. Not really sure how to improve that tho
You state that I-95 goes through Boston. The highway goes around Boston; I-93 goes north-south through the city, and I-90 goes east-west through the city.
NJ Resident here! 280 is a nightmare and when traveling we always try to avoid it at all times. It connects pretty much all of NJs major highways from the Turnpike, GSP, and I-80. Not to mention going through the heart of Newark. That's probably the biggest factor on why its so busy. Once your past Newark its pretty much smooth sailing but still is a very busy corridor
Hahahaha no way!!! As an Orange County resident and local truck driver by occupation this is like some weird cathartic satisfaction knowing that the 405 is literally the nation’s busiest freeway😂 A large section of the freeway (around 17 miles) stretching from CA-22 interchange to CA-73 interchange thru Westminster, Fountain Valley, and Huntington Beach has been undergoing massive “improvement” projects for the last 3 or 4 years and they aren’t slated to finish until mid 2020’s which has only stood to make the traffic issue thru that section that much worse as every on/off-ramp is under construction with weird constantly changing lane patterns and ramp closures! North of I-605 Interchange thru Long Beach/Carson into Torrance is a mess in morning and evening rush hours with commutes commonly taking multiple hours to travel less than 20 miles. And don’t even get me started about anywhere near I-105 and LAX🤦🏼♂️ Just don’t even go anywhere near there from around 6:00am to about Noon because you’ll be stuck there for literal hours and hours and there’s no escaping it because every side street is just as bad 😂
@@parkmannate4154 That freeway - there’s a good way between Tacoma and North of Sea-Tac to get to the split - would be more equivalent to I205 on the mid-east side Portland that goes from Wilsonville to north of Vancouver. I405 cuts through downtown only.
It surprises me no Chicago freeways were even mentioned here. Me being a resident of the city knows what it’s like on the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and other highways around the city. It can be a nightmare.
Having grown up in the Los Angeles area, I agree with the 405 and 210 at the top. One thing you didn’t mention was the the 405 passes LAX-Los Angeles International Airport-which accounts for a good portion of its traffic. The 210 only became a traffic nightmare since they opened the extension out to the Inland Empire about 15 years ago-an extension that is still signed CA-210, and thus not included in this video. Through the San Gabriel Valley it is bumper to bumper in both directions, no matter what time of day it is, though it does ease up at night a bit. Where are all these people going?
I knew that the 405 would be rated the worst congested because I heard it was a parking lot 24/7/365. I'm glad you mentioned I-95 in The Bronx. Basically you have two roads, I-80 & I-95, both the size of Hwy. 401 in Toronto, plus US-1-9-46, a busy 4-lane highway, and the Palisades Parkway, another 4-laner, all funnelling down into a narrow 6-lane expressway with no breakdown lanes. But I'm surprised you didn't mention I-93 in Boston. Despite the rebuilding and widening from the 1980s until the mid-2000s at the cost of over $20 billion, the road from Rtes. 3 & 128 in Braintree to Rte. 28 in Somerville the road is one horribly congested mess, worse IMO than I-95 in The Bronx.
This is very seasonal but I would argue any stretch of I-4 or I 95 between Orlando and South Carolina on sundays, 3 day weekends, or spring/Christmas break. It is awful bumper to bumper going 90 trying not to get killed. Every year between at Augustine and Jacksonville or kingsland and savannah there are always multi car pileups. But on a day to day basis, what I’ve seen the 405 or from what I’ve heard, the capital beltway is a nightmare.
The 405 is an optical illusion. When you fly into LAX you go right over it and it always looks wide open. Then you get on it and it's a parking lot and 2 hours later you made it 3 miles to your exit. I did once, go from the 405/10 interchange north to the 5 in like 15 minutes in the middle of the day. Sepulveda pass was almost empty. And traffic was dead all the way through the Valley. It was like 2 in the afternoon on a Monday. It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced while driving.
Where (roughly) in the US are you from? I ask only because you consistently refer to the routes as “I-[whatever]”, which in California sticks out like a sore thumb. In the SF Bay area (which, while I do not live there, I have visited regularly), locals almost universally use just the number, e.g. “get on 280”. (This is notable because one of the most important limited-access highways* in the area is 101, a US Route and not an interstate. It is hellishly congested.) Los Angeles residents, I believe, are more likely to use either the name of the highway, like “the Santa Ana freeway” or the number, but with a definite article, like “the 405”. I grew up in Cincinnati, where we usually use the I, e.g. “I-71” (though sometimes that gets dropped for 3-digit routes; “275” or “I-275” both sound normal to me). Based on that I would peg you as maybe being from somewhere in the Midwest? * Pretty much everybody east of the Mississippi would say this is the definition of “expressway” but that word means something else out there
I kind of the knew this #1 choice would be picked without surprise. Lol But yeah, we do have some pretty congested interstates near Phily. I 76 is always congested on at least one side of the freeway depending on the time of the day. Especially when people are coming in and out of work. Same with I 83 on Fridays at 3:30pm in Harrisburg.
Because of tourist going to Orlando, I say , I 75 south from Gainesville to wildwood FL has some one the worst traffic. What is supposed to be an hour drive turns into a 3 hour drive.
You mentioned the problem of urban congestion and that interstate highways need to undergo serious reconfiguring to remedy the problem. I live in the Detroit Metro area. We have a number of interstates as well as other expressways. There is also an awful lot of "surface" streets. My son once mentioned that using surface streets would often get you places faster than using expressways. On a ten dollar bet, he and a friend in separate cars left the party they had attended and drove to his friend's house. My son took surface streets and observed the posted speed limits. His friend used expressways (mostly interstates like I-94, I-696). He exceeded the speed limits by ten to fifteen mph. His friend arrived home and pulled into the driveway and before he could get out of the car my son was parked behind him. People need to use ordinary streets more wisely.
Interstate 295 in Jacksonville Florida should be on that list Especially Bettween I.95 and collins Road Exit is definitely alot of traffic should be on that list because it Circled the greater Jacksonville area since Jacksonville is the largest city in land area in the United States
There is also an I-405 just East of Seattle, but it may not mess up this stat if added, lol, as it has some of, if not the worst traffic in that area also.
In my opinion, 24 is actually worse. Most of the problems on I-75 are within a few miles of the split with 24. On the other hand, I-24 backs up pretty much the entire length between I-59 and I-75, especially at both interchanges and the ridge cut.
The interchange is what causes problems to I-75 because they made the lane end on the ramp to Nashville (I-75 to I-24 West) end very quickly and they drop the speed limit to 50 for I-75. I-24 is the main problem because it is very outdated, despite the new interchange, which still didn't fix the main problem
The I-294 Tri State Tollway around Chicago should have been on this list. That interstate spur is a nightmare with the endless heavy traffic and the never ending construction on the damned thing.
Being from the LA area, it was no surprise that the 405 is the worst one. Anything that runs through the Valley, San Fernando Valley for those not local, gets backed up, due to sheer density and the geographical chokepoints it makes. Plus, the 405 runs past LAX, through cities with it as the only freeway connecting it, ie the beaches; Redondo, Torrance, etc. through to Long Beach and the OC. It is a point in my family to avoid the 405 at all costs, just knowing that it will be a traffic nightmare, if we are ever on that side of the city or down south in OC. As for the 210, again, runs through the Valley, connecting the 5 to the 57 and 210 (CA57 and CA210) in Glendora and San Dimas, in the San Gabriel Valley. While quieter here in the SGV, in the Valley, it faces the same problems as the 5 and 405, although usually disperses by the time you get past Pasadena and through to the parts closer to where I live. So in summary, any freeway that goes through the Valley is going to be a traffic nightmare.
I’m in Orange County and the 405 here I would say generally has so much less traffic. I work in Irvine and I take the 5 to get home.. the traffic in Tustin, Santa Ana and Anaheim is abismal
I think what you measured was the "Busiest Interstate". The phrase "Worst Traffic" to me means a really slow drive. For example an interstate that has only 2 lanes in each direction vs an interstate that has 5 lanes in each direction. The interstate with 2 lanes will not be able to handle the same amount of traffic as an interstate with 5 lanes. You really need to compare travel times across a length of the interstate or maybe daily per lane of interstate. However you're probably right about the 405.
We can't build mass transit up the Sepulveda Pass/I-405 corridor fast enough. Let's just hope that the county metro doesn't go with the bs monorail option.
I love geography and am a highway nerd. I'm also a statistician. I enjoy the topics you present on your channel. But I often come away with the feeling that I've been mislead. This video is an example. You say you are using vehicles per mile as your criteria, but you're not actually using that measure at all. You're taking vehicles per day on the most congested segment of the highway and dividing it by the total mileage of the entire highway. This gives a statistic: the maximum number vehicles that pass through any point on the highway, per day, per mile of the (entire) highway. That's just a nonsense statistic that is impossible to conceptualize. It's definitely not the same as vehicles per mile. Of course, choose whatever criteria you like to do comparisons. But all too often, you (inadvertently?) don't present what you say you are. I'd be pleased to consult with you on such things.
I think his numbers for AADT ended up being correct, since the number for I-405 (383,500) is across the whole length from its northern to southern end. Still a bit of a useless statistic since it doesn’t account at all for how wide that freeway is, so dividing it by lane miles might have made more sense, but the traffic volumes are average instead of peak and cover the whole stretch and not just the busiest
tbh kinda surprised I-285 didn’t get a mention. the perimeter, especially the top end, is one of the most migraine inducing roads i’ve ever been on. but maybe it’s just local bias.
Here is a tweak toward solving the issue of averaging, say, I-95 traffic through the megalopolis with I-95 traffic through some parts of the south. Many people experience an interstate for some part of their commute, but not the entire length of the interstate. Is it possible to break down the traffic totals in 100-mile segments? A 100-mile segment would include 2 50-mile stretches in either direction for commuters in a heavily populated area. At least it would reveal the 100mile segments with the most congestion. For example, the traffic on I-95 50 miles north and 50 miles south of Philadelphia gets a lot of traffic. It may not be the worst congestion, but for the sake of this comparison it would be an example. The same with the NJTPK, using the Garden State interchange as a southern point. One factor affecting congestion is alternatives. In SoCal, the freeway has no alternatives; you cannot avoid the interstate for some trips. That is, land roads won't get you from here to there. From DC to NYC there are alternates that some commuters can use to avoid I-95 even if there is some time penalty.
The I-285 perimeter in Atlanta should’ve been mentioned. It’s basically a giant circular parking lot with 18 wheelers around the metro
Atlanta traffic is as bad as any in the USA.
@@us1fedvet That is due to a poorly planned highway system.
I clicked on this thinking the perimeter would be #1 lol
Really surprised, maybe he’s never heard of I-285
I live near the 20/285 interchange on the East side and it's ABISMAL . Finally were getting a expansion but since it's not the most wealthy area like the Top End, I think it's gonna get delayed by some years. That one interchange backs up into the following county almost 15 miles out on the daily.
After the long distance highways were ruled out and it had to be a spur route, I knew it would be I-405. I think if you exclude rural areas on long highways and just look at congested urban sections, I think that I-95, I-5, I-10, I-75, and I-35 would be the top candidates.
I-75 hands down!
Just wait till they start working on the Cincinnati bridge section over the OHIO river.
A bridge that should have been replaced 30 years ago.
You miss I-94, which connects Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities. West of the Twin Cities it thins out a lot, but I would expect I-94 to contains some of the most heavily-traveled stretches of rural Interstate.
I would think i93 would be up there too
I believe it is either I-95 or I-75.
@Albo alt that is more like a standstill, only because practically al traffic has to pour into I-495 and there are no thru Interstates. This causes a bottleneck that extends all the way to Dumfries in the morning. It is awful.
Not a shock that the 405 is the winner for the stat you used. But I think a better way would have been ADT per lane mile.
When I see "mile markers" actually being posted in TENTHS of a mile, I kind of assume it's a traffic-laden stretch. (Hey, when you're down to 15 m.p.h. or less, it's always nice to see these markers showing you some progress.)
Actually, most of the freeways I've driven have mile markers in tenths. Pennsylvania Turnpike included
@@Saxshoe Perhaps I've lived in the rural U.S. too long. The "tenthers" are also a help if one breaks down--helps the road assistance folks find you easier. But, it is costly. Maybe 1/2 mile markers?
Lol ny has alot of signage like that
The 405 in LA doesn't have those. It's the only state whose freeways don't have mile markers.
Tennessee uses 1/10 mile markers even on the most rural areas of I40
I live in LA and can confirm, 405/5/210/605 are highways fron hell. Kanye West even name drops the 405 in a song because of how famous it is. Good video!
I get so happy that NJ actually gets talked about on this channel fairly often even getting kind of our own videos sometimes.
No mention of 287 though. I used to live over there near Bound Brook and moved to trenton. Traffic is night and day. In the cities there are just so many ways to get different places that it is not usually congested unless it’s rush hour. On the other hand Bound Brook and the surrounding areas including Bridgewater were fucked when it comes to congestion. I always remember sitting in traffic on 287.
@@z609gaming better than 280 from GSP to the end
Everybody wants to bring up all these other locations, the highway here, the highway there.... I'm here to tell you, as a former truck driver, I had finished loading in the Torrance, CA one weekday about 10 or more years ago, and the route choice I had was the 405. It took me THREE hours to cover what should've been 20 minutes or so. And my company's yard was in Fontana, so coming south on I-5 out Oregon (the company I worked for is based in Oregon so we did A LOT of traveling along I-5) we had to use the 210, and it's every bit as bad as stated. And I've driven a lot of the roads mentioned, NONE of them compared.
The forsaken 72 miles of miserable carmagedon, which shall not be referred to by name, is the single worst freeway ever built. I drove on it once, hated it the whole time. If I ever get a nuclear weapon, the first thing I am bombing is that awful road.
Interstate 405 in California through its entirety goes through urban areas of LA and Orange County with no feasible mass transit options. This has got to be the most congested freeway in the US.
As someone who recently moved to Orange County from St.Louis, Missouri, I can say the 405 is bad, but it seems like the 5 is worse, IMO. I've also driven the 5 up between Tacoma and near the Canadian border in Washington, and it's god awful up there too.
405 is not technically an interstate but an extension since it only runs in the LA metro area, but I totally agree.
...and is one of the few options to get to LAX which has it's own separate traffic nightmare.
@@Julianna.Domina Yes the Traffic between Tacoma and Everett is always so damn bad. Seattle has the worst traffic I've ever experienced.
If you look closely at a map of LA, you can see freeway intersections built but no freeways. There was supposed to be a freeway going from the 405 at La Cienaga Bl to the 101 at Highland Ave. This could have been a great airport freeway alternative.
I-635 around Dallas is raising its hand. This freeway is getting a major redo to accommodate the traffic.
I remember before they finished the express lanes between I-35 and the Central Expressway, I-635 was a highway that must be avoided at all cost (that stretch still sucks but at least the express lanes never have traffic if you’re able to spend a few bucks). Can’t wait for the current stretch they’re working on to be complete
I345 in downtown has everyone beat. It has 180,000 ADT and is only 1.7 miles long, which is 11.8 times higher than I405. 635 has 200,000 ADT but is 37 miles long, giving it a score of 5,400 AADT/mile, higher than 210 but lower than 405.
I definitely nominate this.
I live here in Dallas and it’s nothing compared to freeways in other states I’ve lived. It’s backed up but it’s no worse than interstate 270 in st.louis mov
Tell that to I-610 in Houston. Especially on the west side of town.
Mentioning the 405, I can hear the voices of the Californians from SNL giving me directions through LA.
"I think you should go home now, Devin! Get back on San Vicente. Take it to the 10, switch over to 405 North and let it dump you onto Mulholland -- where you belong!" "Stuart, the 405's gonna be jammed."
I guessed right! I just KNEW it had to be the San Diego Freeway. Untold DAYS of my life have been spent crawling that asphalt through the Sepulveda Pass, LAX, and OC.
If I had to pick one of the mainline interstates, it would definitely be either I-75 or I-95, based on the number of urban areas that these interstates pass through with areas prone to congestion. These interstates also have significantly higher than average traffic volumes in rural areas, even for the eastern United States, due to their proximities to the country's population center.
I 40 & I 10 overall is heavy traveled , but going through the desert it’s probably not congested
@@jameswells1743 Most of the bad parts on I-40 are in Tennessee and North Carolina. I-10, I-80, and 90 are probably the most heavily traveled east-west interstates, even though 70 probably also comes close.
Unfortunately, I've yet to see I-75 Atlanta traffic be really bad, since I always drove through that stretch anywhere from 3-5 AM in the morning on the way to Florida.
@@jakem6720 Yeah, those are probably the best times to drive that stretch. But I've seen the top end of I-285 at a dead stop during those times.
@@jakkew5753 I-40 in Nashville and Knoxville are absolutely awful during rush hour.
Gonna be honest, I was kind of shocked that I-610 in Houston wasn't mentioned. Especially since the section on the western side of Loop 610 between I-10 and US-59/I-69 is, or was, considered the worst stretch of highway on the interstate system. Plus rush hour on there is a PAIN!!!
Agreed! That portion is definitely the worst by far! Literally is like a parking lot all the time! Also, I-45 is pretty bad too, especially the northern portion between Beltway 8 and downtown Houston.
I can attest to this. I-45, I-610, and the Katy Freeway (I-10 W) are the undoubtedly nastiest freeways in the entire Houston area. Even Beltway 8 is getting nasty despite no more cash lanes on the toll road portion...
Interstates 90 and 94 from the northwestern suburbs to their southern split is pretty horrible as well. Constant construction and congestion. 290 from Hillside into the Chicago Loop is also bad.
Beaver, you should do a video just on southern California freeways. I think you'd have fun. You can probably spend hours just talking about the 91 freeway like we spend hours driving from Riverside to Orange County. We call it the Corona crawl.
I remember reading in an article (like 2019) where Corona was the #4 worst commute in the US. Palmdale (the 14) was the only Los Angeles commute that beat it for misery, at #1.
I have spent multiple hours in both directions going from Corona to Anaheim or vice versa on that freeway😂 I started taking the 241 thinking that would help but now traffic is regularly backed up thru the damn toll booths🤷🏼♂️😂
@@kytoober5137 Not sure where it stands today but even with the widening, it's still very very slow thru Corona. Heck, it's slow throughout its entire length. The entire length of the 91 is heavily traveled
Interesting analysis. As soon as you said "spurs" I knew I-405 in L.A. was going to be in contention. Ditto I-405 in Seattle and I-635 in Dallas. The only non-spur Interstate that might come close is I-4 in Florida. Not very long, almost all in urban areas.
The Eisenhower going west from Chicago deserves a mention
Also eastbound from 294 during rush hour is a nightmare!
@@jakem6720 Haha I'll bet, I'm not even from Chicago. The only reason I know about this is because I went to a white sox game last summer and was driving on the Eisenhower to crash at a friend's place in Oak Park and the traffic was hell even at 11PM lol
worst traffic ive seen is on the kennedy heading into chicago. it was a random saturday afternoon bumper to bumper. im not from chicago and don’t usually deal with that
The answer is that it changes. Whichever interstate I am on at the time immediately becomes the one with the worst traffic.
I70 through Colorado is a nightmare, especially during the winter. What should be a 1 hour drive ends up taking 2-4 hours and there’s no practical alternative routes, meaning you HAVE to deal with it.
Ah yes who doesn't love the beautiful metropolis of Camden, New Jersey? What a lovely place with a booming economy, a vibrant nightlife, extremely low crime, and great schools
You should check out East St Louis, IL as well as Gary, IN and Youngstown, OH. Some truly incredibly prosperous cities that might be able to give Camden, NJ a run for its money
That sounds like the booming metropolis of Chester PA just down the Delaware River from Camden 😆
I’ve lived, worked, and played within 1/2 mile of the 405 my entire life. Many coastal places like the Westside, South Bay and OC beach cities have only the 405 to travel N or S - which creates this funnel effect. My old condo was at the 10/405 interchange on-ramps. It was a brutal existence, with bumper to bumper jams well into the night.
I used to think Houston traffic, especially the Katy Freeway, was bad until I went to school at UCLA. The 405 just puts everything else I have ever seen to shame when it comes to ridiculous traffic. When I started working downtown after graduating I'd just drive Wilshire the whole way to avoid the 405.
@@homerthompson416 If you were driving on Wilshire Blvd to downtown, you were avoiding the 10, not the 405. I know the numbering would be off but some of us think the 405 should be renamed the 666...
I live in the San Fernando Valley and generally try to avoid having to go to West L.A. or Santa Monica. If I am going to the beach I'll go west (north, allegedly) on U.S. 101 and take one of the canyons (Topanga, Malibu, or Kanan Rd) to the Malibu beaches that are more scenic as well.
@@ZackfromNoHo Nope I was avoiding the 405 which was a nightmare from Wilshire to the 10 when I lived in the area. 10 wasn't nearly as bad in my experience.
The funny thing is, when I'm driving from Los Angeles to Orange County, I usually take I-405 instead of I-5 because I-405 has less traffic.
same here man. i-5 has a ton of construction too which is annoying. i particularly don’t like i-5 in mission viejo
@@davidloomis6668 I usually don't go that far south so I guess I've lucked out. But the worst part of I-5 for me is the southeasterly stretch from Downtown Los Angeles to Norwalk. That section of freeway *always* has traffic during the daytime, no matter what day of the week. It could be 1 PM on a Saturday and there will be traffic. And I'm like, where are all these people going???
This is so true. 405 is always fast except just past LAX to the Sepulveda Pass. The 5 is worse because of the congestion in Irvine to the 57 and then Cerritos to Burbank.
@@ec1628 Going southbound I also find consistent traffic on I-405 from I-110 to I-605.
@@kjhuang At least there you might see the blimp!!
A large portion of 280 is 2 lanes with tight turns and bad exits/onramps, and there is a DRAWBRIDGE!! I feel like these factors ought to be considered.
That is so true.
I appreciate your slow change from being a freeway advocate to one who truly understands the positives and also many negatives of them. Coming from a city planner in Spokane WA. Big respect.
I, on the other hand, also knowing the good and bad, advocate freeways with no hesitation.
The practical reality is that freeways used to be cheap to build through farms, ranches, and orange groves sixty to forty years ago and not so cheap to build in any densely-populated area. Real estate is expensive even in slums, and so is the relocation of utilities. We may continue to build freeways in rural areas, but urban expressways are becoming extre3mely costly. Even adding lanes can be out of the question due to costs of the acquisition of land and relocation of utilities . . Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas are building urban or suburban expressways, but these involve land already condemned for such use on a build-and-lease basis with hefty tolls for those who use those routes.
@@paulbrower4265 Then, let us take an authoritarian approach. Do eminent domain, and then say the land is a tax payment, and reduce whatever anyone involved would pay in taxes by that amount.
Then, for labor, offer road contractors to pay business taxes in labor on the project, and then get this thing built.
@@dannypipewrench533 how come you advocate for highways? I’m specifically speaking of highways in cities since you seemed to say you support them in general.
@@skygge1006 Well, I like the freedom they offer to the traveler. No need to wait for the train to stop at the next station in order to go back home all of a sudden. Of course, you do have to wait for the next exit, which might be a problem if you are on I-70 in Utah...
I know that traffic jams can be a problem. I figure we divert traffic around cities by upgrading existing roads into freeways. We put up toll stations on the roads into cities to discourage driving into them unless you need to. We will use traffic cameras to administer fines to anybody who drives through the city without getting off the highway. We raise the speed limit on the bypass route to encourage travelers with that sweet sweet 85 miles per hour. Basically, we try to make sure the cars in the city are there for the city, not just going through it.
If we reduce the number of cars entering a city, we can counteract the negative effects of widening highways. Running a "double deck" freeway would double the size and capacity of the road. Of course, adding lanes ultimately makes traffic worse. But, doubling the size of a city's entire freeway network would not be caught by population growth for a long time, or maybe not at all if through traffic elimination is significant enough. A modular system would also allow much cheaper and less space-intensive expansion of freeways. An extra deck could be added whenever needed, each one essentially being a full, brand new freeway. A deck made of a steel grate would be light and cheap relative to other roads. Many bridges already use these.
Segregating trucks and buses from cars would help. Truck routes help alleviate the traffic, but cars are usually still allowed to be with the trucks. Completely separating them could solve many problems. I live near Phoenix, Arizona. I am on the west side, so I have to deal with all of the traffic between Phoenix and Los Angeles. Los Angeles, of course, has a huge port, so I have to put up with a lot of trucks. There have been days where I had to wait on the on ramp for dozens of trucks to go by.
The problem with our freeways is that they are being upgraded from roads built decades ago. What we need for good roads is a new approach to highway building. The Interstate System is drastically different from the nation highway network it improved. The old roads went right through cities and were little more than surface streets. Then came limited access Interstates. All we need is a big leap in highway design just like limited access when it was first introduced.
As a Floridian I find it interesting that you mentioned I-595, but not I-4 which is considered the worst interstate in the state and maybe even the whole country.
It is considered the most dangerous interstate in the country. Though I think most parts of I-4 is pretty simple, people just don't know how to drive on I-4
well i-4 isnt a spur route so it cant be included so imo the next best one wouldve been the 275 in Tampa or the 295 in JAX.
I definitely thought I-405 would make this list! Have you ever seen it around Thanksgiving? It's just a sea of brakelights one way and headlights the other direction.
Out of curiosity, is there a reason the other spur routes that share the same number in other states weren't calculated in the math? I know Oregon (near Portland) and Washington (near Seattle) both have spur routes I-405 as well.
The worst mistake I did: I live in Stockton CA, and Study in Irvine. During thanksgiving I decided to visit family in NorCal. I did 9hrs! Most of the time I spent in the car was in the 405 through LA.
When I lived in Culver City, I did take I-405 the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, and it was the worst traffic ever - worse than what I've seen in Mexico City after a bullfight gets out. After living in Culver City for five years, in 1994 I moved to Venice and have stayed west of I-405 ever since. In Venice I was west of State Hwy 1 (Lincoln Blvd) and stayed there for 15 years until I finally settled in Westchester, close to I-405. Unfortunately, I am close to the Manchester exit (when approaching from the south), and the new sports stadium in Inglewood creates a lot of traffic for that exit. From the north, I take the La Tijera exist to get to my house.
I've traveled all 405s extensively (lived in WA, OC, LA, drove through Portland many times) and lo and behold the traffic is awful on all of them. In terms of Pain! its the LA/OC 405 in 1st, Seattle/Bellevue 405 in 2nd, and Portland 405 in 3rd. Seriously I would rather stick a broomstick up my ass than commute on a 405 again anywhere, did it for years and glad to be done with it. Other Cities say they have traffic but I've never experienced anything close to LA freeways at rush hour. Traffic in infamously congested Bangkok moved faster IMHO than LA traffic.
I-35 through Austin sucks so much ass. I have spent far too many hours of my life at a dead stop on that boiling piece of asphalt. These days I will do literally anything to avoid using it.
I go around it because I refuse to get close to it. At one point I was paying the tolls everyday to go on 130 but that became expensive real quick so I just take 183. I35 is HELL through austin even at night
Now if you did a survey of which downtown had the squirreliest travel its Kansas City MO everything for the most part is exit 2-something, and it's four highways all in a loop, most always your lane will exit only unless you take the median lane
As for the worst traffic? I'd say Hawai'i Interstate H1 takes the top. Especially in the evening, traffic is stop-and-go from the H2 exit to the East end of the interstate. Maybe Hawai'i warrants its own video. Either way, I feel that H1 is the busiest by its function, being the only major East-West connection on the south of the island. Of course, H201 and SR 99 are viable alternatives, but that can sometimes get just as congested (plus traffic lights!). Also, if anything goes wrong with the express lane in the morning, it becomes an absolute cluster-truck (literally in a sense). O'ahu is also getting a rapid transit line that is supposed to parallel the H1/SR 99 corridors.
It's a misleading metric to be sure. Honolulu has one thoroughfare that creates immense congestion. But, also, there are more cars on LA's freeways than there are people in the entire state of Hawaii. So, scale becomes an issue in ranking these places.
I'm surprised that I-635 and I-45 weren't mentioned. That or even I-285
I am a Canadian who was a trucker for many years and I can say anywhere in the NJ/NY Metroplex is the worst traffic in the US did it for me. I278 and I 280.
Honourable mention to the Beltway for me...
Lucky for me, I didn't get to California often..
Oh, and if you come to Canada. Hwy 401 in Toronto or a jammed day on the TransCanada AR40 in Montreal will be the equal of any American city
California doesn't have bad traffic as long as you stay out of Los Angeles and San Francisco. This is coming from someone from San Diego.
And if you had gone to California you'd be singing a different tune, as one trucker to another.
@@JediTev I went to the upper part of the State around Sacramento and Stockton so I didn't get the SoCal experience that is true. But 6 hours to go 10 miles on many a NJ highway is pretty much my record for not moving on a highway.....
I live in South Carolina and have never been close to California, and even I know about the 405. That road is notorious for traffic jams.
I’m surprised the BQE (278) wasn’t on here. It’s absolutely brutal through its entire route.
Ditto for the LIE.
@@valerieannrumpf4151LIE has the stretch in Suffolk where it’s not too bad. But every part of 278 is horrid.
I live in Newark and I-280 is not as bad as I-278 that goes through Staten Island and Brooklyn, New York !
I definitely agree! I-295, I-678, I-478, I-695, and perhaps I-495 in NY also seem like good candidates. Upstate NY definitely drags down the average congestion for the state.
Although I-278 through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx definitely seems like the worst!
@@travelfiftystates314 it is really odd, I was searching for statistics on i-278 for half an hour, and it turns out that it only has a score of (3,542) by his metrics.
@@kazuichicarter-mcginty3565 Wow interesting. Maybe that is due to the lower capacity outside of the Staten Island stretch. Seems like this metric favors highways with more lanes since wide highways definitely worsens ADT.
Interstate 278 In New York City has A score of 3,532 and is an extremely congested US freeway.
Talk about how I 476 ( Pa turnpike north south) doesn’t make sense and should be a bypass off of i 76
Omg, this
I commuted the 405 between Orange County and LAX for years, it was just as painful as it sounds... This gave me a little PTSD from that.
I think you should make a video about New England interstates especially Massachusetts and the Boston area, it has a lot of busy interstates!
It would be interesting to see how the LA I-405 compares to the Seattle I-405 which is also very congested.
Not nearly as bad. Live in Bellevue now, but from Socal. The California 405 trumps what east siders deal with in WA.
Not to say it doesn't still suck 😂.
Surprised me as well when I realized Seattle has its own I-405 me being from SoCal. But yeah the Seattle 405 has nothing on LA 405 in terms of traffic. Especially during peak hours of LAX traffic just spilling onto the freeway.
The only congestion we get in Maine is the York Toll on I-95...and they finally finished adding an express lane for the EZ-Pass...so now it's only slow because the DOT is redoing Exit 7 where the booth used to be and it's kind of a mess right now.
I-95 north of Augusta is basically barren, and north of Bangor has to be among the least-driven extended stretch of interstate in the country. If you're going to Canada from southern Maine, you're taking US-201 from Waterville to get to Québec City, the Bay Ferry in Bar Harbor if you want to go to Nova Scotia, or you're going through New Hampshire or Vermont if you're going to Montréal. And you're taking US-1 or ME-9 if you're going fishing on the border lakes between Maine and New Brunswick. I-95 is the fastest route to places no one wants to go to (except maybe Baxter State Park).
I expected the 405, but the section of the 5 in Norwalk and Downey was always congested, and the 101 is particularly horrible as well.
Hey, can you do a video about the massive growth in the last decade in Maricopa County, AZ (fastest growing county in the USA for 10 straight years) and the fall-out from this growth? We are SO much more crowded, yet Phoenix feels SO MUCH POORER than we ever were. What gives? Where's our damned tax base???
The Kennedy and Dan Ryan Expressway are giant parking lot in Chicago I-90/94
Along with the I-294 Tri State Tollway around Chicago.
I downloaded the full FHWA summary and calculated vehicle miles traveled per lane mile. Based on that, 405 isn't the most congested interstate, but it's a very close third, narrowly beaten out by 395 and 238, in Miami and San Francisco respectively.
And honestly, having been down to Miami, I can about guarantee you it does have the worst traffic in America. That's kind of what happens when you take America's biggest tourist hub and funnel it up against a protected swamp.
While Hwy 99 in CA isn't an interstate but, it's interesting that on the map at 0:11 in the video that shows traffic volume on interstates nationally, Hwy 99 appears to have heavy traffic from end to end through the San Joaquin Valley, rivalling the 5 in traffic. This particular corridor is frequently identified as the highest population corridor in the US without direct Interstate access. There have been talks of converting Hwy 99 into I-7 or I-9.
having lived in long beach about a mile from the 405, i will back up your claim. that thing was busy at 4 am. wanna get out of town for a weekend? leave at 3 am, or you will be stuck. only thing worse in the LA basin is likely the 91, which is almost never 'free running' . miss the guys on KNX with the traffic updates and the really old radio shows at 1am -4 am.
My way to handle the situation? moved to Mexico. baja. nice. adiios y'all.
Wow im impressed houston wasn't mentioned much. Traffic here gets worse by the day, I'm glad you at least mentioned the Katy freeway though, that thing is hell.
I-610 on the west side of Houston deserves an honorable mention at the very least...
Nice summary. I live about a mile from 95 exit 130 in central VA. The current “improvements” and attendant construction have caused more issues than they’ve resolved. It’s the worst interstate highway in the country, hands down, inclusive of its entire length. The urbanized terrain that is predominant Richmond to Boston is unparalleled by any other road. I’m on a coast to coast trip now and have reinforced my opinion by driving a host of highways including 5/405 in Cali, Oregon and Washington. They are nasty in stretches but don’t hold a candle to that 600 miles of 95 I just mentioned.
currently working on one of the projects by you in Fredericksburg. I know that when the project is finished, the congestion will just push further south/north after the GP/CD lanes are built. just hoping for a huge washington bypass route in the future.
@@McNasty_0 you are absolutely correct. If the powers to be were thinking they’d be building another span for the 301 Bridge and turn that into an interstate (97?) from outside of Baltimore all the way to RVA. Put tolls on it and you’d be way ahead of the curve.
Another great video! Keep up the awesome work, man! Yours is the first UA-cam channel that I've been subscribed to, from such an early point in the life of it! You're doing great! Again, thanks for the shout out!😁😁
Ly bro
@@BeaverGeography You've got me as a subscriber/friend, dude!
I-75. Between Atlanta and Chattanooga used to be the widest and busiest interstate. Atlanta is hell. 285 in Atlanta could of won this list
Nothing beats 285.
I’d like to see a video on the opposite. What are the least traveled interstates in the country? One that comes to mind for me is I-57 from Chicago to Sikeston, MO. It’s about 400 miles long and about 95% of it is rural
Also, interesting fact about I-57: Despite intersecting I-294 since its construction, the two did not have any interchange connecting them until 2014 and even then, it only allowed you to travel in the same direction (i.e you could not go between 294S and 57N or 294N and 57S) until last year
To me, I-90 in Minnesota comes to mind. Which is crazy considering it's such an important corridor from Madison to...basically Boston.
With the plans to extend I-57 to Little Rock, AR, this Interstate may become more utilized as it provides a fully freeway route from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and points south into the Midwest. Oklahoma has refused for decades to upgrade US 69 to Interstate standards and will not even bypass Muskogee. The Sooner State NIMBYs and corrupt local officials running speed traps will be bypassed thanks to the state DOTs in Arkansas and Missouri.
I nominate I-635 either direction around Dallas. A strong second is I-35 San Antonio to New Braunfels, TX.
Since I live in Mission Hills CA, I am VERY close to the 405 and the 5 and surprisingly I don’t get much “freeway noise” keep in mind I can literally walk to the freeways so that’s surprising. But what I do see a lot is traffic ESPECIALLY during peak times like around 4 and 6 pm it gets SUPER congested but everyone’s used to it so 😂
@Joey The blind Panther Probably 😭😭
Yeah, I use it when ever I return to Fresno, from LA. One time i had to get on it at 4:30pm and it made the regular 3hr trip like 3hrs 45 mins.
It took me 5 hours to get from Thousand Oaks to Irvine via the 101 and 405, I was heading home to San Diego from college. That was three years ago and since then I've gone out of my way to avoid LA entirely.
I-270 and I-495 are definitely the worst here in the DMV. I never realized how they really compared to the LA spurs until watching this video. Thank you for enlightening me, and also making me count my blessings a little 😂
As someone from Socal, I was watching this hoping to be pleasantly surprised but I wasn't.
I-75 in Atlanta would not be nearly as congested if people who were traveling beyond Atlanta would use the I-285 bypass like they are supposed to. Of course, traffic in the city is still MUCH better than it is out in the suburbs outside of I-285 because everything is so spread out and car dependent out there.
Hey man, like the videos! Keep up the good work. Only thing is idk why but I think the beaver thing is kinda cringe. Not really sure how to improve that tho
My gosh. Everytime I see the highway at 2:25, I keep thinking someone photoshoped that because it can't be real.
The Katy Freeway is a real thing. It's massive and makes me doubt the survival of our species.
It's real! And it's really nothing compared to this: ua-cam.com/video/8Mlaa132R1c/v-deo.html
No, this is for real. The photoshopped one you're thinking of is what some clever Photoshop artist made of an L.A. freeway and surface artery.
As a New Englander, very saddened by no mention of I-93 in Boston, it has to be some of the worst in the country during rush hour especially
I-95 throughout New England is much worse.
You state that I-95 goes through Boston. The highway goes around Boston; I-93 goes north-south through the city, and I-90 goes east-west through the city.
💯💯💯💯
Said the same for DC. I'm sure he means I-95 atleast goes through the area of those two cities.
I-285 Atlanta might be the worst thing every created
NJ Resident here! 280 is a nightmare and when traveling we always try to avoid it at all times. It connects pretty much all of NJs major highways from the Turnpike, GSP, and I-80. Not to mention going through the heart of Newark. That's probably the biggest factor on why its so busy. Once your past Newark its pretty much smooth sailing but still is a very busy corridor
Hahahaha no way!!! As an Orange County resident and local truck driver by occupation this is like some weird cathartic satisfaction knowing that the 405 is literally the nation’s busiest freeway😂 A large section of the freeway (around 17 miles) stretching from CA-22 interchange to CA-73 interchange thru Westminster, Fountain Valley, and Huntington Beach has been undergoing massive “improvement” projects for the last 3 or 4 years and they aren’t slated to finish until mid 2020’s which has only stood to make the traffic issue thru that section that much worse as every on/off-ramp is under construction with weird constantly changing lane patterns and ramp closures! North of I-605 Interchange thru Long Beach/Carson into Torrance is a mess in morning and evening rush hours with commutes commonly taking multiple hours to travel less than 20 miles. And don’t even get me started about anywhere near I-105 and LAX🤦🏼♂️ Just don’t even go anywhere near there from around 6:00am to about Noon because you’ll be stuck there for literal hours and hours and there’s no escaping it because every side street is just as bad 😂
I-405 is also the name of a ~2 mile long spur route of I-5 in Portland, but I'm not sure about the stats for its usage.
Its also the spur designation in Seattle but that may help. Took me 3 hours on rush hour to get from Tacoma to Everett on that road
@@parkmannate4154 That freeway - there’s a good way between Tacoma and North of Sea-Tac to get to the split - would be more equivalent to I205 on the mid-east side Portland that goes from Wilsonville to north of Vancouver. I405 cuts through downtown only.
It took me 2 1/2 hours to get from Irvine to Westwood on the 405 this week. Insane.
It surprises me no Chicago freeways were even mentioned here. Me being a resident of the city knows what it’s like on the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and other highways around the city. It can be a nightmare.
Having grown up in the Los Angeles area, I agree with the 405 and 210 at the top. One thing you didn’t mention was the the 405 passes LAX-Los Angeles International Airport-which accounts for a good portion of its traffic. The 210 only became a traffic nightmare since they opened the extension out to the Inland Empire about 15 years ago-an extension that is still signed CA-210, and thus not included in this video. Through the San Gabriel Valley it is bumper to bumper in both directions, no matter what time of day it is, though it does ease up at night a bit. Where are all these people going?
Haha. Well you're there, observing all these people. Where are YOU going? Might be the same place they're going.
I knew that the 405 would be rated the worst congested because I heard it was a parking lot 24/7/365.
I'm glad you mentioned I-95 in The Bronx. Basically you have two roads, I-80 & I-95, both the size of Hwy. 401 in Toronto, plus US-1-9-46, a busy 4-lane highway, and the Palisades Parkway, another 4-laner, all funnelling down into a narrow 6-lane expressway with no breakdown lanes.
But I'm surprised you didn't mention I-93 in Boston. Despite the rebuilding and widening from the 1980s until the mid-2000s at the cost of over $20 billion, the road from Rtes. 3 & 128 in Braintree to Rte. 28 in Somerville the road is one horribly congested mess, worse IMO than I-95 in The Bronx.
us route 1 in delaware is ridiculous bro
As some who’s been to 41 states and drove in most of them 95 through New York and New Jersey is always a terrible drive.
This is very seasonal but I would argue any stretch of I-4 or I 95 between Orlando and South Carolina on sundays, 3 day weekends, or spring/Christmas break. It is awful bumper to bumper going 90 trying not to get killed. Every year between at Augustine and Jacksonville or kingsland and savannah there are always multi car pileups.
But on a day to day basis, what I’ve seen the 405 or from what I’ve heard, the capital beltway is a nightmare.
The 405 is an optical illusion. When you fly into LAX you go right over it and it always looks wide open. Then you get on it and it's a parking lot and 2 hours later you made it 3 miles to your exit. I did once, go from the 405/10 interchange north to the 5 in like 15 minutes in the middle of the day. Sepulveda pass was almost empty. And traffic was dead all the way through the Valley. It was like 2 in the afternoon on a Monday. It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced while driving.
I-280 also has a terrible bottleneck running through Newark where it goes down to two lanes and there is a drawbridge over the Passaic River
Where (roughly) in the US are you from? I ask only because you consistently refer to the routes as “I-[whatever]”, which in California sticks out like a sore thumb. In the SF Bay area (which, while I do not live there, I have visited regularly), locals almost universally use just the number, e.g. “get on 280”. (This is notable because one of the most important limited-access highways* in the area is 101, a US Route and not an interstate. It is hellishly congested.) Los Angeles residents, I believe, are more likely to use either the name of the highway, like “the Santa Ana freeway” or the number, but with a definite article, like “the 405”.
I grew up in Cincinnati, where we usually use the I, e.g. “I-71” (though sometimes that gets dropped for 3-digit routes; “275” or “I-275” both sound normal to me). Based on that I would peg you as maybe being from somewhere in the Midwest?
* Pretty much everybody east of the Mississippi would say this is the definition of “expressway” but that word means something else out there
As someone who used to live in the LA area, I can confirm the 405 is absolute hell.
I 285 in Atlanta says "hold my beer"
I kind of the knew this #1 choice would be picked without surprise. Lol
But yeah, we do have some pretty congested interstates near Phily.
I 76 is always congested on at least one side of the freeway depending on the time of the day. Especially when people are coming in and out of work.
Same with I 83 on Fridays at 3:30pm in Harrisburg.
Because of tourist going to Orlando, I say , I 75 south from Gainesville to wildwood FL has some one the worst traffic. What is supposed to be an hour drive turns into a 3 hour drive.
If the Turnpike weren't there, I-4 or I-95 would probably be even worser than it already is
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE IS THE LARGEST SURFACE PARKING LOT IN NEW YORK CITY!!!!
The LIE would like a word with you.
You mentioned the problem of urban congestion and that interstate highways need to undergo serious reconfiguring to remedy the problem. I live in the Detroit Metro area. We have a number of interstates as well as other expressways. There is also an awful lot of "surface" streets. My son once mentioned that using surface streets would often get you places faster than using expressways. On a ten dollar bet, he and a friend in separate cars left the party they had attended and drove to his friend's house. My son took surface streets and observed the posted speed limits. His friend used expressways (mostly interstates like I-94, I-696). He exceeded the speed limits by ten to fifteen mph. His friend arrived home and pulled into the driveway and before he could get out of the car my son was parked behind him. People need to use ordinary streets more wisely.
Interstate 295 in Jacksonville Florida should be on that list Especially Bettween I.95 and collins Road Exit is definitely alot of traffic should be on that list because it Circled the greater Jacksonville area since Jacksonville is the largest city in land area in the United States
295 Is actually a pretty good beltway as far as traffic, considering I-285 (Atlanta) & I-495 (DC) exist.
Great! As a photographer, I regularly travel along the top three in California. (and have been doing so for 40 years)
I was recently on I-294 Tri State tollway in Chicago. Worst traffic I’ve ever seen. Plus they charge a toll to sit in that mess.
There is also an I-405 just East of Seattle, but it may not mess up this stat if added, lol, as it has some of, if not the worst traffic in that area also.
I-75 in Chattanooga TN is pretty bad. Going through there at lunch time jut about any time of the year is a standstill.
In my opinion, 24 is actually worse. Most of the problems on I-75 are within a few miles of the split with 24. On the other hand, I-24 backs up pretty much the entire length between I-59 and I-75, especially at both interchanges and the ridge cut.
@@jakkew5753 Yes I meant to include that too. The whole Chattanooga area is awful!
The interchange is what causes problems to I-75 because they made the lane end on the ramp to Nashville (I-75 to I-24 West) end very quickly and they drop the speed limit to 50 for I-75. I-24 is the main problem because it is very outdated, despite the new interchange, which still didn't fix the main problem
The I-294 Tri State Tollway around Chicago should have been on this list. That interstate spur is a nightmare with the endless heavy traffic and the never ending construction on the damned thing.
Guess you didn't look at I-285 that goes around the perimeter of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area.
Being from the LA area, it was no surprise that the 405 is the worst one. Anything that runs through the Valley, San Fernando Valley for those not local, gets backed up, due to sheer density and the geographical chokepoints it makes. Plus, the 405 runs past LAX, through cities with it as the only freeway connecting it, ie the beaches; Redondo, Torrance, etc. through to Long Beach and the OC. It is a point in my family to avoid the 405 at all costs, just knowing that it will be a traffic nightmare, if we are ever on that side of the city or down south in OC.
As for the 210, again, runs through the Valley, connecting the 5 to the 57 and 210 (CA57 and CA210) in Glendora and San Dimas, in the San Gabriel Valley. While quieter here in the SGV, in the Valley, it faces the same problems as the 5 and 405, although usually disperses by the time you get past Pasadena and through to the parts closer to where I live.
So in summary, any freeway that goes through the Valley is going to be a traffic nightmare.
I’m in Orange County and the 405 here I would say generally has so much less traffic. I work in Irvine and I take the 5 to get home.. the traffic in Tustin, Santa Ana and Anaheim is abismal
The 405 is just one reason I got outta Dodge and now live in Costa Rica. And blissfully so without a car. Pura vida.
Why do they call it the 4o5??? Because you only go 4 or 5 miles per hour.
I'm from SoCal and as long as it's not during peak rush hour in morning or evening traffic still flows well on the 5 and 405
I think what you measured was the "Busiest Interstate". The phrase "Worst Traffic" to me means a really slow drive. For example an interstate that has only 2 lanes in each direction vs an interstate that has 5 lanes in each direction. The interstate with 2 lanes will not be able to handle the same amount of traffic as an interstate with 5 lanes. You really need to compare travel times across a length of the interstate or maybe daily per lane of interstate. However you're probably right about the 405.
We can't build mass transit up the Sepulveda Pass/I-405 corridor fast enough. Let's just hope that the county metro doesn't go with the bs monorail option.
I love geography and am a highway nerd. I'm also a statistician. I enjoy the topics you present on your channel. But I often come away with the feeling that I've been mislead.
This video is an example. You say you are using vehicles per mile as your criteria, but you're not actually using that measure at all. You're taking vehicles per day on the most congested segment of the highway and dividing it by the total mileage of the entire highway. This gives a statistic: the maximum number vehicles that pass through any point on the highway, per day, per mile of the (entire) highway. That's just a nonsense statistic that is impossible to conceptualize. It's definitely not the same as vehicles per mile.
Of course, choose whatever criteria you like to do comparisons. But all too often, you (inadvertently?) don't present what you say you are.
I'd be pleased to consult with you on such things.
I think his numbers for AADT ended up being correct, since the number for I-405 (383,500) is across the whole length from its northern to southern end. Still a bit of a useless statistic since it doesn’t account at all for how wide that freeway is, so dividing it by lane miles might have made more sense, but the traffic volumes are average instead of peak and cover the whole stretch and not just the busiest
tbh kinda surprised I-285 didn’t get a mention. the perimeter, especially the top end, is one of the most migraine inducing roads i’ve ever been on. but maybe it’s just local bias.
2:32 Does anyone else see the irony that Hawaii is ranked #3 in Daily Interstate Travel Per Lane Mile?
I-405 in LA does not go through Santa Monica. The boundary between Los Angeles and Santa Monica is roughly 1.5 miles west of the 405 at Centinela Ave.
Here is a tweak toward solving the issue of averaging, say, I-95 traffic through the megalopolis with I-95 traffic through some parts of the south.
Many people experience an interstate for some part of their commute, but not the entire length of the interstate. Is it possible to break down the traffic totals in 100-mile segments?
A 100-mile segment would include 2 50-mile stretches in either direction for commuters in a heavily populated area.
At least it would reveal the 100mile segments with the most congestion. For example, the traffic on I-95 50 miles north and 50 miles south of Philadelphia gets a lot of traffic. It may not be the worst congestion, but for the sake of this comparison it would be an example. The same with the NJTPK, using the Garden State interchange as a southern point.
One factor affecting congestion is alternatives. In SoCal, the freeway has no alternatives; you cannot avoid the interstate for some trips. That is, land roads won't get you from here to there. From DC to NYC there are alternates that some commuters can use to avoid I-95 even if there is some time penalty.
Yeah 635 in Dallas is a nightmare everyday for it's short span
For not being near a big city, I75 Gainesville, Ocala, SR44, Floridas turnpike is so jammed