Matt wrote earlier about 15-minute cities by featuring plans being made in Cleveland. The purpose of these cities is basically to set up neighborhoods so that anything residents want or need is within a 15-minute walk — thus reducing automobile traffic.
As much as I love driving, this is part of why I pay way too much to live in the city of Chicago proper as opposed to the suburbs, even though I grew up in the ‘burbs. It’s so I don’t have to drive everywhere I go — I can walk, bike, use public transit, or hire a cab/rideshare.
On the other hand, I do drive a fair bit. Some of this is so I can test cars — can’t do much testing when the vehicle is parked in the garage — and sometimes I drive because I need/want to go places that are only easily accessible by driving. And sometimes, I just find it faster/easier than using public transit.
The flip side of this is that I often deal with Chicago’s horrendous traffic. It was even worse when I was younger and commuted to and from the suburbs on a daily basis for school and/or work.
As bad as Chicago traffic is, I’ve dealt with LA’s notoriously terrible traffic jams. New York’s, too — I will never forget the time I was in the Bronx and watched as someone tried to change lanes. Other drivers wouldn’t let them in, and two lanes of traffic got clogged.
Boston is bad, too. Nashville has been problematic when I’ve been there. And I spent significant time in Baltimore from 2015-2018 — driving in Maryland is an experience that I’d not wish on my enemies.
To be clear, this isn’t about places with the worst drivers — though as my examples show, bad driving can and does cause traffic problems — but the places you’ve driven with the worst traffic.
Chicago is, sadly, always high on those lists of “cities with bad traffic problems” you see floating around in the media a few times a year. Traffic and winter are the two things I hate most about this city, and I cringe thinking about much time I’ve lost sitting in traffic. It’s depressing.
So, what city or town or whatever has the worst traffic you’ve encountered?
Sound off below.
[Image: Nikola Fific/Shutterstock.com]
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