Inspired by this thread
Greater Boston, of course, can be a wicked hahd area to drive in.
So Boston-area dopers, what are your least favorite intersections? Which rotaries make you twitch uncontrollably? What roads make ye abandon all hope when ye enter them? And for fun, what roads are unexpectedly wonderful, a sweet, sweet release?
For me, the evil ones are:
Powderhouse Circle near Davis Square in Somerville. The rotary is wide enough for two lanes, but there are no lanes marked. This means cars will weave around as they please, cutting off people all the time. Cars on the outside are always cutting off cars on the inside as they continue around the rotary, and vice versa. You don’t enter the rotary so much as venture gingerly in until you’re sure that no car or truck coming from one of the seven or eight places you need to look will cream you.
Memorial Drive and JFK St. near Harvard Square
Just shoot me now!! There is always such an unholy festering backup there, particularly if you are coming from Harvard trying to get to Brighton.
Storrow Drive and the Msgnr O’Brien Highway at rush hour.
Dewey Square, South Station
Big Dell hell. The shape of the square used to change every week with the construction. Now it’s probably ever other month.
Riverway/Jamaicaway intersections - particularly Jamaicaway and Perkins, or Riverway and Longwood. There is NO left turn lane, and those unfortunate enough to be making left turns off the Riverway (which is illegal in rush hour, but people do it anyway) are forced to hold up everyone behind them trying to go straight, as they try to cut left across two lanes of fast oncoming traffic.
Cleveland Circle
Ambiguous lanes, multiple left turn options from Chestnut Hill Ave South. Double parkers everywhere. Potholes. Above-ground trains. It’s all kinds of Boston driving all in one happy intersection!!
Harvard St. in Brighton/Brookline
Never, EVER drive this road on a Red Sox home game day.
Well, there’s lots more, but I’ll leave it to other posters.
And my unexpected joy?
Greenough Blvd, Cambridge. So fast, so wide! Never traffic! Why? I don’t know. Pity so short.