Is I-95 from DC to Boston the worst drive in America?

Guess you've never been on I-90 along Lake Erie at night during the peak of snow season - if you think driving DC-->Boston is the worst.

I-70 in Ohio is terrible because as others mentioned no one back there understands what a passing lane is and 95 from NYC to Boston is a dangerous parking lot almost 24/7.

get real please wrote:

Guess you've never been on I-90 along Lake Erie at night during the peak of snow season - if you think driving DC-->Boston is the worst.

Guess you've never been on I-70 along the Appalachian mountains at night during the peak of snow season - if you think driving through Cleveland suburbs is the worst.

I guess you've never drove through Beijing China.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Highway_110_traffic_jam

People who say the Ohio or I95 drives are the worst have never been to CA. I've lived in all 3 places.

The poster who mentioned any highway in LA is spot on.

Adding to that, driving from LA to SF or vice versa using I5 on or near a Holiday has to be the worst 500 mile drive in the US. I5 has only two lanes. Trucks occupy one lane while cars backup in the other competing to pass the trucks. The constant cutting in and out causes huge traffic jams and accidents. This is the central valley where there aren't even any population centers. What should be a 5-6 hour drive becomes a 12-14 hour drive.

I drive practically everywhere. I drive I70 through Ohio all the time. I've driven US 30 and 33 through Ohio. I've driven the Ohio turnpike. I drive the 90/94 through Chicago all the time. I've done I20 from Dallas all the way to Florence. I've driven up, down, left and right through the Carolinas. I've even driven Omaha to Grand Island on I80, which a few people have mentioned. I've driven here, there and everywhere.*

None of those can hold a candle to the grinding awfulness of Fredericksburg to Boston on 95. The NJ Turnpike is actually probably the best part of that drive, as it's reasonably fast and well paved for most of the way. The worst parts are NoVa (ridiculous traffic) and GW bridge to New Haven (bad traffic, awful pavement and an endless hellscape of dilapidated urban squalor).

* I have not driven LA, so LA may be worse, but nothing is worse east of the Rockies.

Nevada / Basin and Range / Desert areas = boring and fast

I95 = boring and slow

I like the people mentioning "Highway X in the snow," as if it never snows on the northeast stretch of I95.

Best drive = Kancamagus Highway in NH

Best real drive (Kanc Highway doesn't go anywhere useful) = WVa Turnpike

Cleveland doesn't get nearly as bad as erie/buff - figure you'd know that if you know the area even in the slightest.

since you asked nicely wrote:

get real please wrote:

Guess you've never been on I-90 along Lake Erie at night during the peak of snow season - if you think driving DC-->Boston is the worst.

Guess you've never been on I-70 along the Appalachian mountains at night during the peak of snow season - if you think driving through Cleveland suburbs is the worst.

Still haven't driven through the snow belt during the night whilst in a blizzard, though.

Whoever said San Diego to LA is right. I used to live in CA and now I drive on the 95 every day and it is nothing compared to the 5. Worst drive of my life was from San Diego to Magic Mountain north of LA.

What makes SoCal traffic so much worse is its unpredictibility. At least with the 95 you basically know when it's going to suck and can avoid those times. On the 5 you can be cruising at 75 in the middle of the day and then suddenly be stopped for half an hour for no noticable reason.

The only things that make the 95 worse are the stupid 55 mph speed limit sections and the tolls.

I took a wicked cab ride in Sao Paulo.

What I have never been able to figure out about 95 is what the hell goes on around fredricksburg that causes it always to back up. You can be cruising along the whole way from Richmond and no matter what, it backs up at fredricksburg. As far as I know if it just some small crappy town.

Anyone ever try driving during rush hour on 95 south near Providence?

I could not believe it!

They actually (They, the locals) used the shoulder as a lane. I kid you not. these crazy s'b!thces literally drive 75-80 mph along the shoulder during rush hour. It actually was scary. Imagine if there is a car broke-down on the shoulder? Oh well.

As for 95 in general, by simply looking at the government site for highways, the corridor between NYC and Boston is the busiest in the country. U.S. Census also has this same area at 9.9% of the entire country's population, and considered the most condensed section of the country.

I live close to I95 in the northeast, and I still say what I experienced in the Providence area during a Friday rush hour was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. And, I have been on the NJ Tpk and travel I 95 daily.

I-95 NE Corridor wins worst overall drive, but other commenters are also correct. The worst single stretch of road is - ANY interstate in the LA metro area at 4:30-8PM. You never know which of the hundreds of routes around there will take 5 hours on any particular evening or morning. As for NorCal, 101 coming out of SF at rush hour is a close second to LA. With any disruptions/accidents, the 880 around the East Bay can compete in this category, as well as the 580/680 interchange area- which is flooded by a LA style -sheer volume of cars, often 6-7 lanes of hell at all hours of the day.

Boston, South Shore drivers in particular commuting to the City, are the absolute most aggressive and stressful contributors to driving. Jersey is actually not bad if you can keep up to a very fast avg. speed. Jersey drivers aren't weaving and dodging, and ignoring signals like they do in CA. Also, the Turnpike is a piece of cake- in the absence of a jackknifed tractor-trailer. Its straight, efficient, and you can don't find delays due to the affect of curves as you would around the DC beltway or merging down into Northern VA for example.

But you're wrong! I have! I drove from Boston to Arkansas one January, taking I90 to Cleveland, then dropping down. There was an awful snowstorm plus a shut-down highway at Erie, PA. I hit another blizzard near St. Louis. It took me 31 hours, probably the worst trip of my life. I also drive to Chicago every year in winter from Virginia; there's inevitably a bad storm somewhere along the line. The difference is that the snowbelt highways are only intermittently terrible. I95 always sucks.

sdla wrote:

What makes SoCal traffic so much worse is its unpredictibility. At least with the 95 you basically know when it's going to suck and can avoid those times. On the 5 you can be cruising at 75 in the middle of the day and then suddenly be stopped for half an hour for no noticable reason.

A reason for this oddity on SoCal freeways was given to me by a guy who an expert in Dynamics, and who did some traffic studies. This was about 20-years ago.

Phantom Brakers: These are people who suddenly break for no reason. Watch on the freeway and you'll see them ahead of you. Their brake lights come one, but they don't actually slow down. The thought is they drive with their foot partly off the gas pedal, and ready to brake at any time.

Curve Brakers: These are people who slow down for any curve in a freeway. It doesn't matter what the allowable safe-driving speed is, they must slow down to be safe.

Sympathy Brakers: These are the people who drive behind a Phantom Braker, or Curve Braker, who hit the brakes because they think they have to. There seem to be a lot of these people on the roads. They are very cautious drives. Sympathy Brakers grow in a chain reaction fashion.

Or i-80 near Tahoe or i-90 in Colorado in a *real* blizzard. East coasters like to brag about their "seasons" and snow, but we really have it all out west. Best overall climate but deep powder accessible (as long as you don't try to drive there during blizzard) via high elevation all winter.Worst commute traffic in the USA is LA. Everything is jammed...surface streets, freeways, toll roads, etc. for miles and miles and miles day after day after day. A lot of office workers there do modified schedules to work around peak drive hours.

since you asked nicely wrote:

get real please wrote:

Guess you've never been on I-90 along Lake Erie at night during the peak of snow season - if you think driving DC-->Boston is the worst.

Guess you've never been on I-70 along the Appalachian mountains at night during the peak of snow season - if you think driving through Cleveland suburbs is the worst.

*meant to say i-70 through CO (not i-90)

Now hold on there, boy. You want a Charlotte job? Move to Charlotte.

In all seriousness, you don't know what you're asking for with tolls. As someone who has grown up in the area, tolls are going to freak people out. It will be mass chaos. Not from the daily commuters, but from everyone else. No one will have change. No one will have cash. You'll have people trying to reverse out of toll lanes. It'll be terrible for like a decade.

I think the 485 bypass has helped a lot, but I don't use it daily (and you have to get past the lake).

Anyway, I lived in DC for years and the Richmond>DC stretch is TERRIBLE, as is the DC>Richmond stretch. I have literally canceled weekend trips out of town b/c I have gotten stuck for HOURS and only made it to Potomac Mills. One time I took a half day on Friday and thought I could sneak out of town in time to meet some friends in the outer banks. I spent two hours on the GW Parkway before getting stuck on 395 and almost running out of gas. I finally made it to an exit and as I was filling up I just said "fvck it" and went back home. It took me like 5 minutes to get home.

Is there a better way to get to DC from NY besides 95? I'm driving there this summer.