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I just answered what I liked best and worst about Miami. What I liked the least were the lack of traffic signs helping us to get through the city.
Then I started thinking about all the places we have driven and my impression about whether or not roads and streets were user friendly.
Houston, Texas could have been a nightmare to drive through except that the lanes were clearly marked to let us know which lanes to get into in order to go straight through on I-10. It was wonderful to see the I-10 signs painted on the driving surface of the lane we were supposed to be in. These signs probably saved many accidents because they prevented the driver from being confused by all those lanes.
When my brother went into the Air Force and came home, he told us that if we could drive in our small town we could drive anywhere because it was the hardest place he had ever tried to drive. Well, not for me. When we went to San Diego and finally got me into a parking lot so my husband could take over, we both agreed that he would do all the driving while we were in California. D. C. would be the second hardest place to drive and some places in Florida come in at third hardest places to drive.
Where do you like and not like to drive in the USA?
We have been lost in Greensboro, North Carolina more then once. It has become a joke to us. Go to Greensboro and get lost! I don't know what the problem is in that town. You think you know where you are and then you figure out you are not where you thought you were. Last time we came through there we ended up going about 50 miles out of our way and then were glad we had made the wrong turn because I-85 was like a parking lot when the road we were on went past it. We just kept going.
I try to avoid St. Louis too. We went across a toll bridge years ago and had to pay a toll at least three times. The signs kept sending us back to the toll booth?? Then we had a flat tire where there was no place to pull off to fix it. Talk about a nightmare!
I've lived in St Louis 4 years now and could not for the life of me think of a single toll road, much less toll bridge in the area.
After doing some research, I think it must have been the King bridge; a narrow outdated bridge owned by the City of East St Louis before it went bankrupt.
It has not had a toll since 1987. St Louis traffic has changed a bit since then It is very easy to get around the metro area IMO. Much better than San Diego where I grew up and Chicago where I lived for years.
I've heard horror stories about Boston but haven't been myself. Worst I've experienced is Ithaca NY. For such a tiny town you'd think it would be easier to find your way around. I swear they don't even have the roads labeled.
I love driving around Boston. Lived in Maine for decades and spent quite a lot of time in Boston. At first you think everybody is insane on the road, but as soon as you see that they all ignore the same "rules-of-the-road" it is easy to drive around in. Lanes mean little to nothing, stop signs are suggestions, etc.... As long as you are juggling a DD large coffee, bagle, and reading the paper; while driving 20 over the posted limit and swerving between lanes like a drunk hippo on roller skates, you'll fit right in.
I hate driving in Atlanta, GA, and on the small side Caribou, ME is a pain in the rear as well. Back in the 80's some slick-dick sold them on the idea of one way streets in their downtown area and making the streets that went around the main downtown one way like a giant traffic circle. What a pain to get anywhere downtown.
Boston and NYC tie as the worst cities to drive in. Even though there may be less traffic than other cities, the roads are old and full of potholes. Plus all the dead ends in Boston. I live in NYC and I hate driving a car, even the suburbs outside of the city suck too.
Location: Austin, TX/Chicago, IL/Houston, TX/Washington, DC
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Austin, TX
The place is just a monstrosity when it comes to driving, hell I would venture out to say its a total wreck when it came to designing roads in Austin. The idiot who designed the roads for Austin deserves a punch in the eye for his extremely low level of mediocrity that only very few other people in the world can achieve.
First of all, there's always traffic in Austin, it doesn't matter if its a arterial road, a neighborhood road, freeway, toll road, highway, whatever. There is traffic 365 days a year and from 6 AM in the morning to 9:30 PM, and there is no break between the times either, its continuous traffic. How do I know? I have gotten up as early as 6 AM before to try to "beat" traffic but failed. On a later date, I tried 8 AM, also failed. Tried at 12, again failed. Tried at 2, again failed. Tried at 4, again failed. Tried at 5, failed. Tried at 6 PM, epic fail. Tried at 9:30 and still failed.
The place just sucks when it comes to driving, its a nightmare when it comes to roads, and then you look at the population statistics that says its population is increasing by 37% every decade, for a metropolitan area of 1.7 Million I really cant imagine this hellish road set up handling anything more than it already has.
Another thing, you get on a freeway, you're in the left lane, but an exit is coming up in say 3 miles, it is damn near hard getting yourself into the right lane to exit the freeway, there are so many cars that you just cant get through and cut across other lanes. It's just a nightmare I tell you. The road conditions also suck, potholes, and bumps and uneven splits everywhere and it seems like almost every freakin road is going through construction work and top it off with retard transplant drivers that drive like idiots and manics along with high levels of traffic and trust me it makes you want to cry. I know I almost had tears in my eyes 2 days ago when I was driving, I honestly don't think I have ever been that frustrated and ticked off before in the last 2 years at anything than I was 2 days ago trying to freakin go to a grocery store in this horrendous and poorly planned street networked city.
You'll find yourself wasting so much gas, I filled up my tank full on Tuesday, and went out to get grocery, it was a freakin 12 mile trip (to the store I prefer- there are closer places than this) and I ended up using 3/8ths of my gas tank worth of gas getting there and back? What the hell? Freakin idiot drivers get in front of you and accelerate, you accelerate to keep up with the traffic of those around you and the retards in front of you brake immediately with short notice and its almost a near wreck situation and you realize how much gas you ended up wasting slamming the brakes so soon. Oh and one more thing, you'll notice there is like a cop every mile or so, another hassle. Agh driving in this city sucks, getting around in this city sucks. It really does.
As a redeeming quality, I love the city though. It's a great and wonderful place for someone of my age (20 years old- I go to school in Austin at UT), but it sucks when it comes to the freakin hippies that wont eff off and mind their own business and especially when it comes to the roads.
Austin has two things I despise the most in a city, bad roads and hippies, and worse, roads full of idiot hippies. I am being serious, driving in this place sucks, its a disgrace to Texas, because San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Corpus Christi, El Paso, & Fort Worth all have better road networks, and they put high standards in the country on modern road systems. Austin is a failure city when it comes to anything transportation related, whether it is roads, trains, anything.
Yes, I have driven in many cities and places, in fact I have done a Semi-Cross Country Trip before to much of the East Coast and they are notorious for lots of cops and bad roads and inconveniences but Austin, TX still tops them for being the worst place to drive ever. Honorable mentions to Philadelphia, PA & Richmond, VA for bad driving settings for either roads, cops, confusing streets, unexpected toll roads, other things, or all of the above.
Please stop growing Austin (For the sake of the residents in Austin), America doesn't need more headache freeways to pay for, that wont be enough for Austin, the streets are so poorly planned, its just not even fair to live here.
I've heard horror stories about Boston but haven't been myself. Worst I've experienced is Ithaca NY. For such a tiny town you'd think it would be easier to find your way around. I swear they don't even have the roads labeled.
Wow. I never thought of Ithaca as that bad. Is it because the roads are a bit narrow and congested in some spots. The distances are quite short, so it's not really that bad. There are larger metro areas that are much worse.
Or did you get lost? I wouldn't have a problem getting lost, but then I could probably navigate ok there without labels.
Wow. I never thought of Ithaca as that bad. Is it because the roads are a bit narrow and congested in some spots. The distances are quite short, so it's not really that bad. There are larger metro areas that are much worse.
Or did you get lost? I wouldn't have a problem getting lost, but then I could probably navigate ok there without labels.
We were trying to find some frozen yogurt/ice cream place (don't remember really which it was) that some locals told us about. No way were we finding it and nobody we asked could give decent directions that included street names. Likewise getting from the Ithaca side to the college town side (don't recall names) was a bit of a mission as well when we went for sushi by collegetown side.
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It is very easy to get around the metro area IMO. Much better than San Diego where I grew up and Chicago where I lived for years.
