# Worst drives in The US/Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465 "2015-04-12T01:52:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/41 "2015-04-13T17:20:42Z")
Anywhere in Rhode Island. Every. Single. Road. Is. Pothole. Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/42 "2015-04-13T17:22:40Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > But SOMEBODY is doing it, and they must die. I completely agree. Further, I strongly urge that we hang the corpses from gibbets, with “Maintain Speed” signs around the necks, for a half mile or so leading up to the tunnels. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/43 "2015-04-13T17:30:43Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > The Macarthur Maze, in Berkeley after getting off the Bay Bridge from SF. 580 East and 80 West are the same stretch of road for part of it, just to give an example of how confusing it is (and no, this is not a joke). It gets really bad when the freeways separate, because the signs do not warn you very far in advance which lane you need to be in for which freeway. That means there are always people trying to get across several lanes of heavy traffic to avoid getting on the wrong freeway. Ah! I just spent a few days with some friends in Oakland who basically live in the center of that. I’m usually pretty good at freeway navigation, but I don’t think I ever successfully negotiated that on the first try without accidentally winding up in Alemeda or somewhere and having to turn around. Glad to hear it’s notoriously bad and not just me being inept! One other observation on that trip though: the only thing worse than California freeways is when there _aren’t_ freeways. I came into the Bay Area doing the coast drive and figured, hey, I’ll just go over the Golden Gate Bridge and hop over to the Bay Bridge. Two major highways connecting through a major urban area-- how hard could it be? As I was clawing my way through the surface streets of San Francisco rush hour completely lost, I remembered that historical tidbit about how the townsfolk of San Francisco resisted federal plans to build highways through the city back in the 50’s. Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/44 "2015-04-13T17:32:15Z")
I’d say the 95 corridor from Richmond and points northward. It’s pretty much gridlocked all day and the scenery is a hellscape of strip malls and housing developments behind sound barriers. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/45 "2015-04-13T17:35:13Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I’d say the 95 corridor from Richmond and points northward. It’s pretty much gridlocked all day and the scenery is a hellscape of strip malls and housing developments behind sound barriers. I used to take 1-95 for my annual vacation in the Outer Banks. No more. It used to be that, outside of rush hour, the drive wasn’t too bad. As best as I can tell, I-95 has become a 24-7 goat rodeo. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/46 "2015-04-13T17:47:29Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > As I was clawing my way through the surface streets of San Francisco rush hour completely lost, I remembered that historical tidbit about how the townsfolk of San Francisco resisted federal plans to build highways through the city back in the 50’s. Dammit. Not only that, but [they tore down some of the freeways they did have in SF after the 1989 earthquake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_480). ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/47 "2015-04-13T18:04:55Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I-70 from eastern Indiana through Ohio into PA. Once you hit W.VA, it gets a lot better, but the horizontal cross through Ohio is terrible. We live in Indy now, so it’s all we can do. When we lived farther south in IN, we would take 71 south down to Cincinnati, and then take SR 46 home, instead of SR 37. If 71 had traffic, it might add 15 minutes to the drive, but we were coming back from PA, or New York, or DC, or something, so what was 15 minutes? for some reason, 71 is way more scenic than 70. Have to disagree. I-70 sucks in Illinois and Missouri too. > [@Scumpup](#): > > The PA Turnpike is no treat anywhere along its length, but the stretch between New Stanton and Breezewood is one continuous, crowded, life threatening PITA, especially in the rain. I nominate Breezewood – just the 5 minute drive through Breezewood, a drive that shouldn’t even exist if only they put in a decent interchange. I’m forced to think about who’s paying or taking bribes to keep that place in business. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/48 "2015-04-13T18:08:25Z")
Roads in Pittsburgh are full of potholes, too. There are two seasons here in Pittsburgh- winter and construction. You might find traffic blocked somewhere seemingly at random during either one of them. I was coming back from the airport (west of the city) to my home just east of downtown. I figured this drive would not be too bad. But they were doing construction, squeezing two lanes of traffic down into one, at two separate places on the Parkway West inbound from the airport to the city. I used to work in Cranberry, near where the 79 meets the turnpike. I got on the 79 South one exit before the turnpike, from the 228. At a normal freeway entrance, you can merge with the rest of the freeway traffic shortly after you start traveling in the same direction as the freeway. Not at this entrance. They have the lanes coming from the 228 cordoned off by jersey barriers for a ways after you’re going alongside the 79. These barriers did not appear to be new when I started commuting that way, so I don’t _think_ they put them there just to piss me off, but you never do know, with PennDOT… The speed limits on the 79 and 376 are 55 in a largish radius around Pittsburgh, instead of the normal 65. I think they did this for revenue purposes. I know I would see cops hanging out to catch speeders along the 79 several days a week when that was part of my commute. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/49 "2015-04-13T18:41:18Z")
I-40 Tucumcari NM to Amarillo TX. At least when you drive from Amarillo twoards Tucmcari, you can see the Rockies in the distance. Going east you see nothing. Did this once in the middle of the night. No other cars around. Pitch black. Could only see the road in front of me illuminated by my headlights. It was creepy as hell. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/50 "2015-04-13T20:17:52Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > [Hwy 281](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_281) Odd that US281 makes the list ahead of I-35. The stretch of I-35 from San Antonio to Fort Worth/Dallas is continually under construction and is generally a congested undrivable mess. The sheer volume of cargo traffic to-ing and fro-ing from Mexico is enough to make driving on I-35 an untenable proposition. Throw in the inevitable highway-closing accidents due to the above mentioned construction and congestion and you’ve got a mind-bogglingly horrific nightmare of a drive. US281 is the preferred “lesser of two evils” option. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/51 "2015-04-13T20:21:18Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > US281 is the preferred “lesser of two evils” option. Keep going until you hit North Dakota, then we can talk. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/52 "2015-04-13T20:59:25Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Never been on 80 but there are stretches of I-95 in Florida and Georgia that are interminable, with an unending series of the same pine trees forever with not even the relief of crossing a hill to break the monotony. Then you have clearly not experienced the thrill a minute that is I-16 from Savannah to Macon. My god it is awful. And you better pee in Dublin or keep your cup. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/53 "2015-04-13T21:12:35Z")
The 880/101 interchange in San Jose used to be really bad (and I’ve heard it still is pretty bad). On the 880, you had the freeway narrowing down to two thru lanes (not counting carpool lanes) right about where traffic from the 101 came in. I was driving it in the late 90’s and early 2000s, when it was jammed full of Silicon Valley traffic. There was a left exit from the 580 West to the 238 that could be pretty scary. Caltrans’ antipathy to marking things well in advance was in evidence here, so you’d sometimes see someone suddenly changing lanes all the way across the freeway- they thought the 238 would exit on the right, but surprise, it’s on the left. Where the 238 intersected the 880 was also a big traffic mess. [A guerrilla artist actually managed to do better than Caltrans at marking freeways in LA,](http://www.laweekly.com/la-life/richard-ankroms-freeway-art-caltrans-buys-into-the-prank-2163171) so yes, Caltrans does suck at marking freeways. A beltway is pretty much inherently going to be confusing, paired with the idea of freeways being marked as north/south or east/west. Or at least the Beltway around DC is. It has some very convoluted interchanges and is often a giant traffic mess, too. Of course, the Capital Beltway and the Baltimore Beltway number exits differently (Washington’s go counterclockwise, Baltimore’s clockwise). This is probably a metaphor for something. Personally, I’d much rather do a boring or ugly drive than a confusing or scary one. I’d rather drive all the way through Ohio or even Indiana on the turnpike than go through the Macarthur Maze. At least on a boring or ugly drive, you _are_ getting where you intended to go, and it’s not as likely that someone is trying to cross three lanes of traffic in front of you. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/54 "2015-04-14T02:06:09Z")
The longest day in my life was spent on I-10 crossing Texas from east to west during the days of the double nickel. Zero Dark Early in east Texas, all the way across until late evening approaching El Paso. BORING! ---
**Author:** ![Waterman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Waterman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waterman)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/55 "2015-04-14T08:39:45Z")
In addition to Boston (see earlier post), I will also nominate the stretch of I-90 on the New York State Thruway from the Berkshire connection all the way to Buffalo at the I-290 interchange. The only good thing about the drive from Boston to Detroit was that you had the chance to go through Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Rome, Paris and London!:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/56 "2015-04-14T14:14:24Z")
A lot of it’s pretty, but did you guys know just _how much Pennsylvania_ they have in Pennsylvania? A lot more than you think. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/57 "2015-04-14T16:41:13Z")
I-81 through Pennsylvania was pretty bad, what with its lack of rest areas. Heaven help you if you’re on that highway and have to poop! Boston is not as bad as people make it out to be. That city has nothing on the D.C. area! Boston drivers are rude, but competent. D.C. drivers are both rude and stupid! The New York Thru-Way and the Pennsylvania Turnpike were both miserably long and boring, and to add insult to injury, they rob you blind when you get to the end of them! The Saw Mill Parkway in New York was certainly an adventure! I found myself on that highway once when I wanted to drive around New York City (I would have otherwise been going through during rush hour). The merges onto that highway seemed very dangerous, with many of them having no acceleration lane and coming right out right after blind hill-crests and curves. I-95 from Bangor to Houlton, Maine is roughly 118 miles of nothing, with a couple of miles where you can get a good view of Mount Katahdin if the weather is clear. Many of Maine’s roads are so full of potholes that the whole length of them is pretty much a zig-zag obstacle course. In addition to dodging potholes, you have to dodge the drivers going the other way who are also dodging potholes! I’ve seen some roads where people have taken to driving down the ditch, because it’s in better condition than the actual paved road. Unless it’s a major tourist route, MaineDOT can’t be arsed to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/58 "2015-04-14T17:14:22Z")
Having driven it many times, I’ll agree that I-80 across Wyoming and across the Salt Flats is incredibly dull and boring. But I swear, driving across Connecticut on I-95 or the Merritt Parkway _feels_ longer. I have to object, as a Boston-area resident, that driving on Boston highways isn’t awful. Even with all the twists and turns, they’re still better than they were before the Big Dig. (driving on Boston Streets, through Boston traffic, though, that’s another matter). and, despite the fact that I grew up in New Jersey and traveled the road frequently, I can understand anyone saying that the Jersey Turnpike or US 1 going through the stench of the refineries along Elizabeth-Linden-Newark makes that stretch one of the worst highways on a foot-by-foot basis anywhere in the US. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/59 "2015-04-14T17:19:01Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I’d say the 95 corridor from Richmond and points northward. It’s pretty much gridlocked all day and the scenery is a hellscape of strip malls and housing developments behind sound barriers. I came in to mention this part of I-95. It’s frequently a _rubber-band session_ where you’ll be crawling at 15mph for 3 miles, then everyone will do 70mph for 3 miles, then it’s back to 20mph… rinse and repeat. I keep telling myself i’ll take a different route next time I visit DC, but there are few options. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465/60 "2015-04-14T18:03:03Z")
Yeah, I’m from Virginia, but live in DC. One weekend, I decided to take my wife to see Richmond. Never again, I’ll never go farther south than Alexandria on 95 again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-drives-in-the-us-canada/717465.md?page=4)