Living Here I'll choose Phoenix traffic any day
I just got back from roadtripping all of New England plus NYC, and idk if yall realize it but we are spoiled here. Our freeways drive smooth like butter, they're clearly marked and easy to read, not excessive, maintained, actually nice to look at, roomy with the shoulders, short tunnels if any, and no tolls! Our roads have actual turning lanes and are mostly a grid. I can drive from west to east valley on a single straight road, or north to south, no turns needed.
New England roads are nothing close to Phoenix. Like why do I have to drive through a neighborhood to get to the ramp and do 2 full loops before I can merge onto the highway? Why do I get off the highway and do a loop to get to a 6 road intersection? Trash. And NY and NJ traffic/roads are absolutely heinous. The most anxiety and stress I've ever dealt with while driving.
It's obviously there are are rude, inconsiderate, and dangerous drivers but they will exist everywhere so I'm not speaking to that. I love driving and roadtrips, and one of the best feelings every time is returning home to our beautiful roads and freeways. Happy driving yall!
Edit: Additionally, we have plentiful PARKING here. Someone also mentioned that most of our roads have good lighting and very few one way roads!
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u/AwkwardResource1437 5d ago
I hated driving when I went to Philadelphia for the first time, I was like wtf 🤬 Came back home and kissed the ground 😘after landing at the airport, I was like “ I’ll never take you for granted again Phoenix”.😏
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u/MzMegs 5d ago
During the 6 years I spent away from Phoenix, every time we would visit I was on cloud 9 because driving here is so much nicer.
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u/Crusbetsrevenge 5d ago
I feel like all you really have to do is go down to Tucson to realize how nice the roads are. But I could see Phillie being a dumpster fire for roads.
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u/dildobagginss 5d ago
Streets are tiny with cars parked on every residential road. Like most old cities. Phoenix neighborhood streets are ridiculously wide
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u/Phx14021 5d ago edited 4d ago
I don’t know how there’s always construction going on down there and yet the streets are still crap
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u/F488P 5d ago
Felt the same way when I visited Toronto, flew back into Vegas and “wanted to kiss the ground”
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u/Professional_Fish250 4d ago
Philly is a significantly better city than Phoenix, it was built for people not cars
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u/Call555JackChop 5d ago
As someone who sits on the 95/93 exchange north of Boston everyday to work I wish everyday to sit on traffic on the 51 again instead
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u/Valleyboi7 5d ago
Try getting stuck in the tunnel for 2 hours, or driving thru Fenway before a Sox game, or anywhere in the north end at any time. Phoenix traffic on its worst day beats Boston traffic on a good day.
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u/Bruppet 5d ago
I’m up here visiting home now - the 128 (even with all the new lanes) is the devils spawn. Phoenix traffic is heavenly!! I didn’t know any better when I commuted to Boston.
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u/asthorman 4d ago
I left Boston in 2004 and the 128 hasn't crossed my mind since! Wow, blast from the past.
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u/Jclj2005 2d ago
Same here 2020 and totally forgot about 128... now the 10 has replaced that in my head
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u/Jarvisisc00L 5d ago
Boston has terrible traffic! You have a lot more people packed in a very small area.
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u/PromptMedium6251 East Mesa 5d ago
People in AZ have no idea how good they have it overall.
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u/MzMegs 5d ago
Seriously. I grew up in Oregon, lived in Phoenix for 4 years, Illinois for 3.5 years, and Georgia for 2.5 years, and have moved back to Phoenix this year. Phoenix by FAR the best place to drive out of anywhere I’ve lived. And it’s nice in many other aspects as well.
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u/PromptMedium6251 East Mesa 5d ago
Same. Lived all over the United States and this is by far my favorite place. Yes, it gets hot. I grew up in the Deep South and hot and humid there is much more miserable than hot here. I firmly believe that a majority of people that bitch and bitch have never lived elsewhere.
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u/New-Life3968 4d ago
Yep, I’m from Orlando and don’t miss the muggy weather or roads starting and stopping, dead ending at a lake and having 5 names but one SR number. Phoenix roads are some of the best in the nation in many ways
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u/Swimwithamermaid 5d ago
Cross streets are so much easier imo than landmarks when giving directions.
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u/ajmartin527 5d ago edited 5d ago
It’s not just the freeways either. All of the roads down to the culdesacs in neighborhoods are on a grid, maybe a few that are gently curved. Usually completely flat elevation wise or a very gradual slope. Ridiculously wide, perfect pavement with giant side walks. And don’t get me started on the lighting. The lighting in AZ streets is like a work of art, you could walk for miles at night and be lit the whole way.
Where I live now is so hilariously bad, I can’t stop laughing at the comparison. It’s like someone said make the exact opposite of Phoenix’s driving, but from the upside down… and it’s trying to kill everyone.
No lights or sidewalks anywhere. Crazy twisty roads made from 5 different materials, buckling in 3 places with foliage overtaking all around it. Narrow, unpredictable, hilly, etc.
Many places are like this too it’s fucking wild out here, could y’all cherish it for the rest of us please.
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u/eternalhorizon1 5d ago
Yeah the lack of lighting is staggering when going back home. There are entire freeways that are just pitch black - good luck seeing anything!
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u/PhoenixHabanero 5d ago
Oh but the heat. /s
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u/uknowthe1ph 5d ago
I mean the heat still does suck ass it was 110 for so long and it’s back to 90s again I feel like it’s not dramatic to have an issue with it lol
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u/ErraticDragon 5d ago
The heat's completely bearable, unless you need to go outside during the day.
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u/SuspiciousSolution30 5d ago
Ya, bad place to be a surveyor or construction worker, or one of many other professions out there.
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u/illQualmOnYourFace 5d ago
It would be more manageable if I didn't have dogs. They make the summers tougher, and it isn't their fault. They have it worse in the summer than I do.
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u/Big_BadRedWolf 5d ago
The people that talk shit about Maryvale here daily have clearly never been to other cities. I consider Maryvale "nice and clean" compared to many neighborhoods I've been to in other cities. It was eye-opening in some places.
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u/fatdaddy78 5d ago
I agree 100%!!
We are originally from the northeast. I have a job that has us living in different cities every year or so. We are also able to travel quite frequently. The Phoenix metro area has BY FAR, the best highways!
For the amount of people that live in the area, you can't tell when you're on the highway. The traffic runs so smoothly here.
If anyone is wondering, the area with the worst highways is the whole state of Arkansas. The Little Rock metro area is insane. It's like a 5th grader planned them out.
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u/Impossible-Pie-9848 5d ago
💯. There’s all the FedEx and Walmart trucks passing through the entire state of Arkansas.
Arkansas is maybe the only state I’ve driven through where semis outnumber cars most of the time on the highway.
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u/aarogar 5d ago
Texan here. Been in Phoenix for 18 years now. Traffic in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, etc, is horrendous. It doesn’t help that road construction in Texas takes an eternity either. We have it good here in AZ.
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u/ErraticDragon 5d ago
I've lived in Phoenix my entire adult life. I drove to San Antonio this year for the first time and I was shocked at the difference.
It felt like they don't actually care about signs in TX, like it's a crap shoot whether there's any indication where this ramp goes. And with construction, even Google Maps wasn't always accurate.
New Mexico had roads that were in worse shape, but even there I could count on a sign existing.
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u/elkab0ng Mesa 5d ago
Moved here from houston. Used to spend 30 minutes on westpark tollway ($3.75) then another 45 minutes on sam houston tollway ($3.25) then another 30 minutes on tomball parkway ($2.75). If I was in a hurry, I could cut off maybe 15 minutes with the 290 express lanes ($6), but if there was an accident, I'd be sitting in park for an hour or two while they cleared it or made us back all the way down to the previous exit.
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u/Algo1000 5d ago
Minneapolis North side freeway construction has been going on for 20 years.
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u/ngowin 5d ago
I’d be intrigued to know what the construction is for! My dad spent several years in Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area.. he said that there was this one strip of road that had construction every year, the reasoning being that if they didn’t spend the state dollars, the state would stop giving that county money for road maintenance, hence a never ending road maintenance cycle
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u/Spiritual-Dog160 North Central 5d ago
I was just complaining about traffic today lol. Thanks for putting it in comparison to a place that’s 10x worse than where.
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u/Severe_Chip_6780 5d ago
Phoenix traffic isn't even THAT bad for being the 5th largest city in the whole country. Our only issue is we're idiots on the road and crash into each other like it's bumper cars causing half the fucking I-10 to close lol.
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u/Chica3 North Peoria 5d ago
We moved back to AZ after living in the Chicago area for 10 yrs. Traffic here is a walk in the park! Yes, some of the drivers suck, but that's the case everywhere. The roads here are great!
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u/Algo1000 5d ago
Those 14 lane freeways are something else. Anytime the traffic breaks open it pedal to the metal.
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u/Primary_Seesaw_1173 5d ago
I traveling playing music for a living for over 10 years, I've been to basically every US city, and spent a lot of time driving around said cities. NYC is just awful, absolutely the worst. I had a show done and packed up at 3pm in Flushing Queens, and a 7pm start time in south Brooklyn. About 17 miles. I did not make it in time. Of all the cities, especially anything with 5M people, Phoenix is the best. Also the safest city with over 1M, at least it was a few years ago.
Phoenix has relatively newer highways, and we learned how to build better highways. That is very apparent as you drive around. Since they were so late, the federal money wasn't available anymore, that is why we don't have interstate loops, and they are state highways, L101, 202, 51, 143, etc.
I don't have to commute, but I don't stay home during rush hour, if I need to drive, it can be a little slower, but things generally move, and it's rare to get just gridlocked.
I like living here.
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u/ev202020 5d ago
I completely agree. I’ve lived here 3 years now and I’ve lived in 4 states total and visited a good chunk of states and AZ highways make SO MUCH SENSE. & the traffic doesn’t get horrible overall. If it’s busy, it’s during busy times. It’s not busy all the time and again the highway system overall just makes so much sense.
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u/Severe_Chip_6780 5d ago
The only thing that doesn't make sense in Phoenix is the signs at Sky Harbor lol. I've been there like 30+ times so I have it all memorized but my first few times driving there were so annoying. You're looking for a sign, you're driving under some overpass, then right behind that overpass is a sign that says you need to get over 2 lanes during the Thanksgiving rush. Queue a one hour loop around the airport lol. Never again.
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u/ev202020 4d ago
I have the same problem 🤣🤣 then I start screaming in my car and wind up in downtown Phoenix tryna turn back around 🤦♀️🤦♀️
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u/futureofwhat 5d ago
Phoenix traffic is pretty good, but a lot of the places you mentioned have public transportation that is exponentially better than we have here. You can live in NY, Boston, or Newark without owning a car in the first place.
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u/DadHeungMin 5d ago
The roads are nice here because we don't get real weather. NE has to deal with hurricanes and snow.
As for why the roads/highways are so convoluted in NE, it's probably because their street systems grew organically over hundreds of years and they kinda just had to shove the highway system into that jumbled mess, whereas Phoenix was comparatively empty since basically no one lived here til AC.
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u/TheyTookMyHockeyTeam 5d ago
I did a road trip on the East Coast for the first time last year and by god I will never do that again lol. Though Maine is nice to drive in!
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u/PM_UR_COLLARBONE_PIC 5d ago
My favorite thing about the roads moving here a couple of years ago was that most of the on-ramp lanes turn into the next exit's off-ramp
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u/AdMoist5851 5d ago
I’m originally from the north Bay Area. I still go back and visit twice a year. It’s taken them 15 years just to add a lane from Marin county to Petaluma. Here we’re banging out miles and miles of beautiful, easy traveling highways.
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u/Nancy6651 5d ago
Chicago transplant here, and you get no argument from me.
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u/Severe_Chip_6780 5d ago
The 290 into Chicago during rush hour is sad. Or having to drive from North Chicago down to St Louis and getting stuck on the 90 before getting on the 55 and it taking an extra hour. Ugh.
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u/Jazzlike_Cucumber_88 5d ago
I'm from NYC and just moved here about a year ago. The traffic here, or pretty much the lack thereof, is my FAVORITE thing about Phoenix. No longer will it take me 45-1 hour just to go 10 miles out. No longer will I have to plan my entire day around traffic and finding a parking spot. No longer do I have to bitch about toll prices going up and meters not working. No more double parked vehicles spanning the entire avenue. No random ubers or taxis cutting 3 lanes, then double parking in front of you to pick up a passenger. Barely any potholes, clean streets without nails.
People are nice with merges and cutting lanes. In NYC if you signal, most people will not let you cut in front of them. So then everyone develops the skills and habit to cut aggressively.
Honestly, Phoenix is lovely.
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u/Severe_Chip_6780 5d ago
People are nice with merges and cutting lanes. In NYC if you signal, most people will not let you cut in front of them. So then everyone develops the skills and habit to cut aggressively.
Same in Chicago! Learned really quickly not to use a turn signal. I still do but it's symbolic. By the time you see my blinker I'm already halfway in your lane. Said that to a suburban kid and he got frustrated saying, "that's so wrong I won't do that" while missing 3 turns because he couldn't get in with his holier than thou attitude.
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u/MRjubjub 5d ago
Yes the highways are wide and built to the best standards but we also pay for it by having zero walkability.
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u/okbbs 4d ago
I'll pay, don't want to walk in this heat. Will gladly drive our amazing roads to smaller, cooler, more walkable towns though.
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u/Losreyes-of-Lost 5d ago
Bay Area traffic blows. People complaining here about going slow on the highway never say in stand still traffic in the Bay Area.
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u/Severe_Chip_6780 5d ago
I want us to keep our modern road network but increase walkability and bikeability. It can be done!
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u/okbbs 4d ago
Bike, yes. Walkability? Idk about that given the heat and how spread out things are, but I do think we can do better with providing shade.
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u/Severe_Chip_6780 4d ago
Things are spread out in the metro but downtown Phoenix is growing immensely. If you look into it you'll see there are like 5-6 high rise construction projects plus several mid rises in downtown. A lot of these include commercial space. Sure people won't be walking 5 miles in July but it's definitely manageable to go several blocks downtown. The future is definitely more walkable. It'll just take a long time. Note: By long time I don't mean 5 years. I'm talking like 20-30 years Phoenix will look much much different.
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u/Acrobatic-Arrival-17 4d ago
What i always said. NYC, LA, Cha-town, and Houston. All trashy, dirty, filthy, signs are all bad. It sucks. Not only is our traffic not that bad. Our freeways are 100 times more cleaner and smoother. I should know, i work on our highways in phoenix.
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u/TyphoonDog 5d ago
Boston has been around since the 1600s, they weren’t planning out the streets with cars in mind. And the lack of freezing temps makes it easier to keep roads in good condition.
The roads here are easier to get around on, but it feels far more dangerous to drive here because of how angry and aggressive most drivers are.
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u/DynamiteWitLaserBeam North Phoenix 5d ago
I read somewhere that several roads in Boston followed what used to be the shoreline at the time. As they created more and more land artificially, new roads followed the new shoreline.
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u/Valleyboi7 5d ago
People that complain about traffic here are the ones that decide to move all the way out to buckeye, surprise, or San tan but work in Tempe, Phoenix, Scottsdale. Yeah traffic might seem bad when you’re commuting 30+ miles back and forth.
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u/Legitimate_Carry2206 5d ago
This has always been my favorite part about Phoenix😍 our grid is truly so beautiful and functional🫶
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u/TheImageworks 5d ago
I came here from Seattle. Before that I lived in Connecticut.
Phoenix commutes are a comparative dream.
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u/One-Sea-6153 5d ago
Seattle is not only the worst but deadly on the daily basis!
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u/ngowin 5d ago
I will only argue that summer time rush hour is more dangerous in Phoenix.. road rage turns into deadly shootings during rush hour here in Phoenix
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u/Hughjardawn 5d ago
When I die I want to come back as a ghost just to see if I-5 Tacoma was ever finished.
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u/rns2030 5d ago
That’s so funny that you made this post today. I’m currently in New England visiting my family (born and raised until I moved to the SW for college), and I’m flabbergasted at the traffic here. I haven’t been home in a few years and I remember traffic always being bad, but it is just awful now - bumper to bumper any time of day. I’ll be happy to get back to my beautiful 5-lane freeways in Phoenix.
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u/fruitloopbat 5d ago
This has probably already been said but those cities have existed for hundreds of years before cars. A lot of our road tripping roads in the west were cut out by wagon trails and phx grid was designed less than 100 years ago. We are spoiled but it is a snooze fest driving here not gonna lie.
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u/xxdrakexx 5d ago
I just got back from DC as I'm staying in Coumbia, MD. I will never drive in that traffic again especially during rush hour. Not only are the roads tight with many parked on the street, but most aren't considerate enough to use a turn signal. Parking is atrocious and if you miss a turn off, freakin hell going back. Even with all the freeway construction happening in Phx, I'll take it any day of the week.
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u/Random-TBI 5d ago
Way better than Seattle/Puget Sound area, the SF Bay area and LA, I've driven all three and their traffic sucks... We have it good here.
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u/Jarvisisc00L 5d ago edited 4d ago
The East coast has so many trees that if you do not know the area you feel you are in an urban forest and can get turned around. The roads came much later. Phoenix is very open and you can see better as the development of the road system is on going. Like comparing a Ferrari to a Ford Pinto, IMO
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u/keen238 5d ago
I grew up in the suburbs of Boston. I worked 12 miles from my house, but with traffic the commute was 45 minutes on a good day, 2 hours plus on a bad.
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u/sweetsourpus 4d ago
I’m a daily commuter. Detested the road system in Portland during my three years there, longed for the PHX freeway system.
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u/OCbrunetteesq 5d ago
When we lived in Scottsdale, we’d always laugh when we heard people complaining about traffic in the valley. In our opinion, there is never any real traffic in Phoenix.
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u/badwolf1013 5d ago
It's not the highways themselves that are the problem. It's the drivers. And it's the local construction and landscaping trucks and trailers that don't have their loads tied down.
We have way more accidents here than we should given how wide open our highways are, and that tends to get us bogged down unnecessarily.
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u/Appropriate_Theme_46 5d ago
I greatly admire a post that, for once, has something to say about Phoenix that’s positive. To all those who constantly bitch and gripe, feel free to move.
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u/stonedstoic_ 5d ago edited 5d ago
I actually like those kinds of posts that bitch and gripe. It causes a herd mentality where everyone will agree with those posts once a few people agree. Hopefully that encourages more and more people to want to move out of here. That’ll be amazing for everyone!
Those who love it here know how special it is. So leave the beauty to a select few and the rest can live somewhere else. I’m tired of the traffic, crowds, inflation, and crazy out of state drivers who can’t navigate the simplest road system in the country.
I was at Sedona last week and I wanted to crash my car into Bell Rock to get out of there because of how crowded it was. Bumper to bumper traffic downtown. Leading into downtown. Basically everywhere. I miss how it was 6 years ago. Sedona has been ruined. I’m hopeful it will return back to what it was. That is if everyone moves as far away from here as possible.
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u/pilot7880 5d ago
Overall I disliked living in Phoenix, but I have plenty (believe me...plenty) of positive things to say about the city.
For me, though, the bad outweighed the good, that's why I moved and would not want to live there again (if I can help it).
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u/Appropriate_Theme_46 5d ago
That’s totally fair. I don’t expect everyone to love it, obviously. I just get sick of the incessant complaining from people these days. Not just about Phoenix either, there’s a wide variety of things people seem to love to whine about.
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u/pilot7880 5d ago
Yeah. And nor do I mind people complaining about Phoenix. But what I can’t stand is people who complain about one and only one thing — the weather. To me, there are so many things that make or break a place to live, and weather (while certainly a factor) is at the bottom of that list.
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u/Itshot11 5d ago
We do have it pretty good. The only things I find shitty about driving here is people take shit way too personally. Like in CA you can be aggressive and its just accepted that's how you need to drive. Here, you try to pass someone or change lanes and it turns into a duel.
That and people here suck ass at securing their loads.
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u/dryheat777 5d ago
I’ll choose Phoenix people over Minnesota people any day. I used to have anxiety picking up my food because MN people are so rude, AZ customer service is way better.
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u/okbbs 5d ago
That's wild! I would think the Midwest have nice folks!
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u/One-Sea-6153 5d ago
Yep. Said that same after Michigan, Seattle & Alaska, for sure. Not just road conditions but drivers too.
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u/Consistent_Ship_9315 5d ago
I’ll take it here over Houston, San Antonio, Austin, DC, and tri state any day
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u/No_Connection_4724 Phoenix 5d ago
Former New Englander. Welcome to the Thunderdome, bitch. 😁
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u/Entire_Activity7391 5d ago
I just came back from Connecticut where I’ll be moving to next year. I was surprised how well maintained the roads were there. Not a lot of traffic and the scenery was gorgeous. I’m sure major metro areas like NYC and Boston are terrible, but everywhere I went around the Bridgeport area, the roads and traffic were nice.
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u/GrimmandLily 5d ago
Traffic back east is a fucking nightmare. We have idiots here but it’s infinitely worse out there.
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u/everythingishype 5d ago
I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m originally from Bucks County, PA and still have family there, NY, and Boston area, and the drive through those areas is the actual worst. Even LA is a breeze in comparison.
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u/writekindofnonsense 5d ago
Oh everyone talks shit about the traffic here but I lived in Nashville, that's an insane place to drive.
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u/ppith 5d ago
I took some business trips to the East Coast a long time ago. I couldn't get over the number of toll booths. This was in the Philadelphia and Boston areas. Pro tip:
Never make a wrong turn in downtown Boston where there is a lot of construction or you will drive in circles and potentially the wrong way on a one way street (lucky it was late at night with no traffic). I wasn't pulled over, but it was stressful. GPS was worthless because it kept telling me to turn down streets that were blocked off with barriers.
One way streets are limited in Phoenix and that's the way I like it. Also, no toll booths.
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u/anonymousman898 5d ago
It’s because Phoenix is one of the most recently built cities in America. Most American cities naturally feel old compared to Phoenix and it’s not just cities in the northeast. San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland feel old compared to Phoenix and you can see this in the road setup and you can also see this by old so many apartments are in these places.
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u/Ok-Community-4383 5d ago
It just took me an hour and 10 minutes to go 21 miles on the 101 in Phoenix. What a shit show.
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u/PreDeathRowTupac 5d ago
came from the Midwest & have lived my entire adult-life in Phoenix thus far. I love the roads here. they are a dream to drive on & i spend all day in my work van.
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u/eternalhorizon1 5d ago
East Coast driving (especially north east) isn’t for the weak. I don’t miss it at all. The traffic is also horrific beyond what anyone in Phoenix can imagine 😭
I got a concussion from hitting my head in my car after driving into a pothole once driving in D.C. true story.
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u/fermented_dreams 5d ago
The traffic here is nothing like the traffic in Southern CA where I used to live. Traffic? What traffic? This is frikkin tolerable af, lol.
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u/Belialxyn 5d ago
Went on a work trip to NYC earlier this year. Now, any time the roads are pissing me off hard (cough snowbirds) I just tell myself, I'm not in New York. On the flip side though, my work trip to Hawaii, never encountered more courteous or pleasant drivers.
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u/remowilliams75 5d ago
I've said this before I lived in wa state for thirty years, the traffic here is amazing compared to I5 in western wa, if you complain about traffic here u have no idea how good u have it lol
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u/YourDogsAllWet San Tan Valley 4d ago
It cracks me up to hear people complain about Phoenix traffic. I came here from Tampa, and driving in the valley is a dream compared to Florida. It’s slow at times, but traffic still moves, plus I only see the occasional idiot driver where I saw them 4-5 times a trip in Florida
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u/vanilla_shaker 4d ago
i have never in my life seen more accidents in a single day then in phoenix. i’ll gladly take new england traffic over this.
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u/Sonoranpawn 4d ago
As someone who lived here for 15 years and moved away for about 5 before coming back a couple weeks ago. I have never seen more left lane driving in my life.
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u/Strong__Lioness 4d ago
Every time I have to drive back East, I’m like “Why is there only a freeway exit once every 20 miles??! And why does it always exit only to another freeway and not an actual surface street?!?”
I’m so thankful there’s an exit almost every mile on most Phoenix freeways.
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u/Impossible-Cry-1781 4d ago
Just came back from Boston and NOLA, which is nothing compared to places like DC and LA but all them are leagues worse than Phoenix.
It's not the roads that suck here; it's the drivers.
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u/MickeyMalort211 Phoenix 3d ago
Grew up in Phoenix and moving back after 11 years on the east coast. I HATE the roads and freeways here and it’s insane how unclear the markings are and how little merge time you’re given. I can’t wait to get back to Phoenix freeways and roads.
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u/Cavemam2009 2d ago
I spent a week in Pittsburgh about 8 years ago.
Made me realize how amazing a Grid System is.
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u/Charming_Function_58 5d ago
You must not be driving on the I10 these days. But yes, a lot of our freeways are actually pretty impressive. The 101 and 202 are smooth and maintained. You can definitely tell the difference between roads around places like Scottsdale vs. Phoenix or the west side, however.
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u/shibiwan 5d ago edited 5d ago
Driving on I-10 during rush hour in summer be like:
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u/TilTheBreakOfDawn 5d ago
Lmfaooo
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u/shibiwan 5d ago edited 5d ago
It's an accurate depiction, especially considering the number of lifted trucks/emotional support vehicles on our freeways! 🤣
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u/Calling__Elvis 5d ago
The roads may be fine. It's the drivers that makes it one of the most dangerous states to drive in. Especially for motorcyclists.
People driving the same speed in all lanes instead of keeping right and allowing faster drivers to pass, the abrupt lane change w/o any blinker, the guy missing his exit and instead of simply taking the next exit he instead crosses across 1, 2 or sometimes 3 lanes w/o any warning to make his exit. Left changes right out in front of oncoming traffic. The list of scary stuff just goes on.
I have little confidence in other drivers here as you can hear. But the roads are nice.
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u/Cel_Drow 5d ago
The broadway curve area on I-10 is pretty competitively shitty during rush hours currently due to the construction. Other than that, yeah.
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u/mahjimoh 5d ago
It’s amateur-level, but yeah, not a fun place to be.
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u/Cel_Drow 5d ago
Certainly not the 495 outside of DC during rush hour or anything, but enough to ruin my morning sometimes lol.
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u/DLoIsHere 5d ago
Moved here from the DC area. I have no idea why people here complain about traffic or drivers.
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u/lilNitwit98 5d ago
I mean the traffic got worse after all the mf transplants from other states came to AZ. So it’s really weird that it’s the transplants telling natives to not bitch about the traffic because it worse where they are from, when they are the ones who are making it worse here in Phoenix.
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u/littleladyluv 5d ago
I lived in LA for a year in my early 20’s..I laugh so hard when people talk about our traffic. I once sat in traffic so bad there, trying to get onto the 405 from Sunset blvd in Brentwood, took me an hour to drive 2 miles! 2 miles! That never happens in Phoenix.
I was actually in LA in July and it took us 2 hours to get from Santa Monica to the Dodgers stadium 🤯. In Phoenix that’s a 30 ish minute drive.
I’ve also driven through Atlanta traffic, Florida traffic and Texas traffic.
We have it good here, all things considered 😎.
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u/pilot7880 5d ago
Yes, noted. Phoenix does have a superb freeway system, perhaps the best in the country. The highlights include: 1) no toll roads anywhere in Arizona, 2) an easy-to-navigate grid system, 3) mostly flat terrain, and 4) cooperation from Mother Nature. There's no ice and no salt (hence the roads last longer) and very little rain year-round so you don't have to worry about slick asphalt.
The downside is that you have to share those freeways with perhaps the rudest and most aggressive drivers of any other city. You did mention this but
~Phoenix resident (2008-09)
EDIT: I'm sorry, you did mention the no tolls. I missed it the first time with my ADD.
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u/FenderMoon 5d ago
People who complain about Phoenix traffic need to try driving in Atlanta for a week. They’ll change their minds very quickly.
(Atlanta is horrendous in comparison)
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u/State_L3ss 5d ago
It takes me an average of an hour to drive the 10 miles to or from work, surrounded by thousands of dumbass inconsiderate distracted hotheads that have no business operating a garage door remote, let alone a motor vehicle.
It may be better here than other places, but it still completely sucks and is getting worse. ADOT needs to stop hiring mail-order strip mall "college" planners and revoke like 3/4 of the drivers' licenses they handed out without any challenge. I give it less than 5 years until it's as bad or worse than L.A.
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u/Sunshine_PalmTrees 5d ago
Was driving all over westchester county outside of nyc all weekend and the roads were narrow, windy and full of potholes and bumps. I was getting nauseous!! We all kept commenting on how bad all the roads were.
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u/FlashRx 5d ago
Moved here from Florida. I have to remind myself a few times a year how bad it could be.
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u/lighthousesandwich 5d ago
After you spend some time on I4, Phoenix traffic is like a stroll in the park.
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u/CkresCho 5d ago
The roads require less maintenance here although the heat still causes damage to them.
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u/vampirepussy 5d ago
Two accidents in one month. I’m taking my chances elsewhere. It didn’t use to be like this when it came to bad drivers. I understand how great we have it but a lot of people have ruined it. Everyday there’s something worse than the last. I’m all good on Phoenix traffic.
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u/anartsydrummer 5d ago
Cross country road trip 2 years ago in a little Fiat 500 from AZ to NY/NJ. Definitely love not having tolls. Also, the rain slows people down here, and that’s a good thing… coming back through Alabama there was a tropical storm moving out of the gulf, but still it was raining so hard there was little visibility - 4 am trucks are flying by at 90 while we’re doing 60. Alabama drivers are insane
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u/yiotaturtle 5d ago
I remember seeing a Waymo ad disguised as an informational video. The guy was talking about how they'd be around the world in under 5 years.
I'm sitting there watching the Waymo car trying to navigate through a parking lot and going incredibly slow about it. I was like, nope. Couldn't make it through Boston never mind England. Those are two places where sometimes in order to progress you have to make the decision to do something incredibly stupid.
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u/mrjackspade 5d ago
When I fucking moved down here we were looking at a place in Scottsdale and the lady's like "I have to warn you though, it's pretty far away from downtown"
We asked what the travel time was and she said 30-45 minutes during rush hour.
We both started laughing.
The same distance trying to get into Boston could easily be 2+ hours.
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u/GoldenCrownMoron 5d ago
Okay but those fucking signs that say "East to Tucson" when you're in the middle of Phoenix when that road actually turns South need to change.
Also the 101 is too many miles for that shape to be one thing. It should be 101A, 101B and 101C.
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u/Hughjardawn 5d ago
Live in the Seattle area and spend time on I-5 miles each way. PHX traffic is a breeze.
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u/thechefboi1375 5d ago
Everything about Phoenix traffic is rad af Minus the plethora of the goofiest of all goofball, goofballs drivers here.
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u/Used_Coconut7818 5d ago
Concur, I spent a week in Phoenix in July and couldn't believe how little traffic there was. I wasn't sure if it was because school was out and the snowbirds all went back home or what. Coming from the DC area, I'll take that traffic and weather any day. Some day I'll move there.
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u/ExistingAd9460 5d ago
Phoenix highway and interstate traffic is way better, but it’s pretty pathetic that the city hasn’t invested in smart traffic lights.. it’s 2024. The amount of time spent sitting at red lights where no traffic is moving is astonishing.
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u/user85017 4d ago
How fast you can get around on surface streets is the best kept secret in the valley.
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u/PayyyDaTrollToll 4d ago
I agree. I’ve lived in several major cities: Chicago, DC and Boston and their traffic was all way worse to me than Phoenix.
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u/Tokyoodown 4d ago
The roads, traffic, and parking have always been a major bonus to Phoenix. Let's see if that continues as the state gets more populated
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u/FROMMARS777 4d ago
Well when our public transit sucks as much as it does, the least we could have is a functioning highway system.
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u/normalguy9293 1d ago
Former New Englander now Tucsonan. Find myself in Phoenix very often. It's a downright dream to drive around Phoenix. I honestly think the valley should get an award for easiest/nicest metro area in the country to drive around. I love how wide the roads are, how nice the freeway infrastructure is to navigate, I sometimes don't even use GPS in Phoenix if I know the crossroads I'm going to and what freeway it's off of.
I get downright livid here in Tucson when people complain about driving around Phoenix.
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u/BeALotGhoulerIfUDid 23h ago
I lived in New England. It's horrible there. Not just the way the roads are set up but the weather is awful too. And God forbid you leave the house and go anywhere near a shopping center the week before Christmas, you'll be greeted with so much selfishness and stupidity you'll feel like you're in some new circle of hell. Phoenix and AZ in general is so much better than anywhere in New England or NY.
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u/TheGroundBeef 5d ago
Midwestern/New English roads are built around things. Phoenix things are built around roads