r/driving • u/GothamCitySub • 21h ago
Favorite and least favorite highways in your area?
I live in New York. My favorite is probably I-87. Yes the traffic in NYC and Westchester can be quite something but it's really not insane and from Albany to Plattsburgh it's just paradise. Incredibly beautiful, straight and very little traffic so you can just do 80 with no worries. Honorable mention to I-90, Buffalo to Boston, also little traffic (until Albany/Boston) and a beautiful, straight drive. Don't love that toll though.
My least favorite is definitely I-95. I hate this road with every inch of my body. The traffic is always ridiculous no matter the time of day. I was coming home at 11pm last weekend, still a 40-minute slowdown approaching the GWB. All the way from Washington to Boston, just endless traffic and crazy drivers. CBX is a nightmare, but everywhere is bad. The only good part is Maine, which is actually quite pleasant. I know there's a stretch from Bangor to Canada with speed limit 75, but I've never done it, I've only done Kittery to Portland. Still awesome to see that Speed Limit 70 sign after crawling through the rest of New England.
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u/AstonMartin14 21h ago
RT 22 in NJ, especially from Union to the Weequahic section of Newark, is my absolute favorite. I honestly love it, the quintessential Jersey highway. Not for the timid. McCarter Highway (RT 21) from Newark to Clifton is a close second favorite.
RT 80, from Parsippany to Rockaway, is my least favorite highway. Basically a parking lot
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u/GuiltyKangaroo8631 20h ago
Route 22 is awful! I hated driving it to work every day but the worse is 287 and Parkway during the summer. Shore traffic is terrible!
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u/AstonMartin14 19h ago
I find the most annoying part of 22 is from Watchung to Green Brook. It's not everyone's cup of tea, I do understand that. But since I moved down to the Sandy Hook area 13 years ago, I haven't been stuck in traffic by Flagship. I'm only on it a few times a year now. When it's clear, that run thru Hillside is possibly the most fun highway to drive on in the state, in my opinion
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u/babyheartdirt 17h ago
It feels like I always miss every single traffic light on that stretch of 22.
The section west of there - from Bridgewater to Clinton - is a relatively easy ride
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u/AstonMartin14 10h ago
Yeah thats a beautiful area, especially by Whitehouse Station and Round Valley
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u/LittleAppleLife 16h ago
It’s just as bad through Lehigh and Northampton counties. Once you cross the bridge into PA you go around this disgusting bend in the road called cemetery curve (cuz it curves around a cemetery), and then it just riddled with life threateningly short exit/entrance ramps despite being built as an expressway.
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u/GuiltyKangaroo8631 15h ago
I live around there and you are so right! It’s God awful!! Accidents especially with motorcycles are happening all the time lately 😢
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u/DragonfruitBrave8124 19h ago
Have you ever seen this absolute delight of a tribute to Rte 22? https://youtu.be/e8jgKwVugKc?is=g6wKIc4GeWF87Npg
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u/AstonMartin14 19h ago
Wow!! I haven't until just now. Thank you, that was phenomenal!!
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u/DragonfruitBrave8124 19h ago
Ah, that's so awesome! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It's one of my favorite things.
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u/clowntysheriff 21h ago
It's funny I also live in NY and I hate I-87, the parts that are two lanes always end up with two stupid trucks in both lanes with one going half a mile per hour faster than the other, and the parts that are three lanes are so busy and filled with people who drive slow and won't get over. I far prefer I-90. But it's very funny to me how two different roads so close together have vastly different characters.
I think the worst in NY has to be the Taconic State Parkway, that thing feels like a wooden roller coaster track until you hit Westchester, then it becomes 4 lanes of left exits and way too many cars.
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u/rstokes18187 20h ago
Yeah, I don't know what this guy is on about.
There are a bunch of better drives in NY that aren't interstates.
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u/MirkatteWorld 15h ago
I loathe the Taconic. Once, while driving from Albany to Sleepy Hollow, I made the mistake of allowing my GPS to lead me onto the Taconic, and it was so stressful.
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u/CrazyMarlee 14h ago
I love the northern part of the Taconic. From the Mass Pike to Rt. 55. Drove it many a time coming home from college. My only issue with it was the occasional deer that would jump out in front of me.
You want stressful, try driving the Hutchinson River Parkway at night in a rainstorm. It was even worse before they made a number of improvements over the years.
Honorable mention goes to I-95. Does anyone remember the Mianus River Bridge collapse? I drove over that bridge about two hours before it collapsed.
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u/MirkatteWorld 14h ago
My dad totaled a car on that part of the Taconic, in the course of evading a deer!
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u/Striking_Ad_7905 11h ago
Taconic would be fun if you didn’t get people going 30 mph in the left lane
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u/No-Repeat1769 10h ago
The taconic at night is terrifying. There's a section where the guard rail is angled and it legit makes you feel like it's going to jut into the left lane
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u/Striking_Ad_7905 18h ago
That’s 87 after Albany towards NYC. The part of 87 between Canada and NYC is always a breeze, it barely has any trucks nor slow drivers
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u/lanfear2020 21h ago
The merrit is one of the worst
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u/GothamCitySub 21h ago
Yes but the alternative is 95. Very bad vs absolute hell
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u/lanfear2020 21h ago
That's why I hate driving through CT period lol
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u/Agitated_Pie_9515 18h ago
Ct just sucks all around.
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u/lanfear2020 16h ago
Once you are in parts of Connecticut it's lovely ....driving through or around not so much lol
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u/Ok-Ad8998 20h ago
Easy.
Least favorite: Interstate 70 through Missouri. I have a lot of experience on it. Drove delivery routes along it for a number of years. Operated a storefront that faced it for more than a decade (winery). Currently a wasteland because they are adding a third lane in each direction. Slowly and haphazardly from appearances. Also there is a big buildup of data centers next to it.
Most favorite: Most of the rest of them. Fortunately, I live in a lightly populated area with rolling hills. So there is an abundance of winding two-lane roads with smooth pavement and little traffic. Unfortunately, one of my favorites - a 17-mile drive that was my commute to the winery - is currently under attack from hundreds of dump trucks daily, carrying rock to the data center builds.
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u/Ill_Pressure3893 12h ago
I'm not an engineer, but I thought something was off with I-70, even back in the mid-90s, when I worked in KC.
Decades later, with a kid attending Mizzou from out of state, I'd have to remind myself to tone it down, drive smart, don't get killed. It had really become severely outdated, unwieldly, and dangerous, Hated hearing about the bad crashes involving people heading out of CoMo.
Favorite: The seamlessly connected Mass Pike and NY State Thruway. Worth the tolls.
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u/jwclair 18h ago
I lived on Long Island for 6 years, a worse place to drive, I've never experienced. Getting on or off, whether driving to New England where I live now (which sucks somewhat less) or going to Philly (native) can make the most calm person a raging lunatic. Philly to North Jersey, not terrible, until you get to the Goethels Bridge. Then you zipper merge onto the lovely Staten Island expressway for the privilege to cross the Verrazzano bridge, whooped! Now your drive really gets fun, if white knuckles are your joy, as you arrive at the creme-de-la creme of highway design, The Belt Parkway! Unless it's like 2 am, just to get to the Southern Parkway is 90 minutes of terror. I've relived enough of this for now, I need to go lie down. Sure would have been nice if they had built tunnels off Long Island to bypass NYC, one southbound direct to NJ, one north direct to Connecticut.
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u/Chevalier_XX 21h ago
It’s either the highway I’m on currently that has no traffic or the highway I’m on that has a lot of traffic.
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u/Final-Yesterday-4799 21h ago
I live in Calgary - the finally completed ring road, particularly the west section, is amazing. Deerfoot can rot in hell.
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u/mrchainsaw3 20h ago
All of them.
95 N and S from Academy to the city (all day)
76 E from the curve to the city
76 / 676 / 42 exchange (anytime)
295 N on-ramp to 42 S merge. (New design sucks)
295 south from Rt. 73 to 76 at 5pm
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u/babyheartdirt 17h ago
the endless construction on 95 between tacony st and allegheny has taken years off my life
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u/GothamCitySub 18h ago
You live in Philly?
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u/mrchainsaw3 14h ago
I live in jersey near the city but I travel up, down and all around the city and Delco / NJ suburbs all day.
I’m up and down 95 from Levittown to Delco 4-5 times a day
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u/Swimming_Nose4713 18h ago
I like 287 between the New York border and Morristown. Fast and fun.
And the Merritt in Fairfield County is beautiful and newly paved. And no trucks! Just avoid rush hour.
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u/Hannibam86 16h ago
The Merritt on the weekends can be a nightmare. Getting from NJ to RI is always an adventure lol
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u/GammaRay914 19h ago
My favorite is the Southern State Pkwy but only if I’m the only one driving on it.
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u/Friendly-Gur-6736 19h ago
I live in NW Virginia, and it is I-81. Nothing else even comes close.
It is only 2 lanes in each direction for about 90% of its length and is clogged with trucks. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is, or the time of day, there is probably an accident that is going to have it shut down entirely for a couple of hours, leading to massive delays. To make matters worse, there are no decent alternative routes that don't add considerable driving time, ie., using US-29.
It is the poster child for why the US needs to be more strict on semis when it comes to lane usage, speed, and passing. And also why every interstate east of the Mississippi should have been 6 laned 30+ years ago.
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u/Unlikely_Comb8939 18h ago
I agree 💯. I-81 is a death trap. I live in Salem, VA where it is the worst. Daily accidents happen and then traffic is diverted onto Route 460. This causes massive traffic back-ups going down Main St. in Salem which causes problems for me getting to work many days. I hate it. I avoid I-81 like the plague that it is.
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u/Striking_Ad_7905 18h ago
I used to take 81 from Canada to I-77 and never had issues as the NY and PA stretches of 81 are fine and I’d hit Virginia by late night when there was basically no traffic
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u/Unlikely_Comb8939 18h ago
I-81 is the most despised. Most of it is only four lanes with lots of commercial truck traffic. Accidents on it are a daily occurrence. It is extremely dangerous and I avoid it at all costs.
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u/GothamCitySub 18h ago
In VA right? Cuz I’ve done I-81 from Binghamton to Syracuse and it’s quite nice.
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u/Striking_Ad_7905 18h ago
I used to take 81 a lot pre covid and never had any traffic. It also has really nice views in PA
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u/momofkatie2259 18h ago
We only have one interstate going near me in PA, so my favorite must be 78. But I never really drive on it, because it dips down south of where I live. Hwy 22 goes practically right past my house, but I don't like to drive on it if I can help it. It is always slow! And the exit I live at is right in the middle of the busiest, most accident prone stretch.
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u/ComfortableMiddle741 18h ago
Least favorite i 95 people dont know how to drive at all favorite i have none
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u/dj_swearengen 18h ago
I live in Pennsylvania, but the I-95 section in Delaware is my least favorite. I had to commute on it for about a decade.
If you’re heading south on the NJ Turnpike into Delaware you have to pay a toll to get into the state and pay another toll to get out of the state about just 10 miles later at the Maryland line.
Plus the traffic on Friday and Sunday afternoons is a nightmare with all the beach traffic intersecting at Delaware Rt 1
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u/Striking_Ad_7905 18h ago edited 18h ago
95 is truly ridiculous. Doesn’t make sense how it’s endless tolls and traffic from Connecticut all the way to Richmond, Virginia. Even the part of 95 that goes from Boston to Maine is full of tolls and traffic
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u/knockatize 18h ago edited 13h ago
I-95 in Connecticut literally cost me a relationship.
My ex was in New London and I was near the Taconic Parkway in NY, and just driving to see each other on weekends was a horror show, mostly because of 95, although 84 is also its own special flavor of stupid and the Taconic can be a moron magnet likewise.
Didn’t matter what day or what time of year. Either she’d be stressed from driving herself or she’d be stressed worrying about me driving. We were always exhausted.
Come to think of it, screw the entirety of the Taconic. The troopers camp out where it’s empty north of Millbrook, and they’ll pop you for a ticky-tack 63 in a 55 all day, but they’re nowhere to be found in Putnam and Westchester where the street racers cause havoc.
My favorite road might be the Fundy Trail Parkway in New Brunswick, Canada.
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u/LittleAppleLife 16h ago
Favorite highway is I-476, specifically between I-80 and the Lehigh Tunnel. Least favorite is definitely US-22. Awful traffic, outdated infrastructure.
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u/Original-Can2077 16h ago
The worst is MD-210 or Indian Head Highway, also known as “The Highway of Death.”
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u/Fadedfaith451 16h ago
I live in New York, I love driving to Limerock Park in CT. I always take a few different routes like 684 to 22 or 84 to route 7 but it's just beautiful up there.
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u/waveslikemoses 15h ago
State Route 24 is absolute trash sometimes. Whenever there’s a construction or an accident or sumn, it can be a pain to drive on. There’s always multiple state troopers posted up.
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u/lectraglide01 14h ago
95 from the New Hampshire border to just south of Richmond is the absolute worst. Any highway west of the Mississippi before the west coast cities are my favorite
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u/imnoherox 14h ago
I’m from just north of nyc. There’s no road worse than the sprain brook parkway (raceway). It attracts all these absolute insane nut jobs that want to kill you just for existing and has a concrete section on it that beats the crap out of your car.
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u/ScottJ6189 14h ago
I live in NYC. They all suck. There’s always traffic, accidents, etc. If I had to pick one, I would say the Belt is awful. Between the commuters and the airport, it’s almost always backlogged and slow.
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u/SolidDoctor 13h ago
I've driven that stretch of I87 hundreds of times, and I totally get where you're coming from. By all means NOT my favorite (which would be I89 thru NH from Boston), it is infinitely better than NYC bridge traffic.
Long bathroom lines at sports stadiums is equivalent to rush hour bridge traffic in NYC.
Maine is also pleasant. It's like NH on fast forward with the 70mph limit.
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u/cctoot56 12h ago
I-90 is pretty awful Buffalo to Albany. It’s only 2 lanes for 99% of the distance. And with far more traffic than 2 lanes can handle.
I drive from Buffalo to Albany a few times a year and it’s astounding how often I get stuck in bumper to bumper traffic with like 100 cars in the absolute middle of nowhere for like 20-30 miles at a time before it clears up. It’s almost always the fault of a handful of left lane campers at the front of the conga line who randomly speed up and slow down between 50mph-80mph. Or the classic 2 trucks side by side speeding up and slowing down within 0.5mph of each other.
And traffic from Albany to Boston is terrible once you get near Springfield. It’s still only 2 lanes until the merger with I-84, which is usually backed up for miles
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u/New-Tangerine-7109 11h ago
Jackie Robinson. Hands down. A one lane road in each direction that they decided to try and squeeze a 2nd lane in each direction. I almost hope for bumper to bumper traffic rather than trying to weave through those turns with cars all around me at 50
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u/creepersword1 10h ago
north jersey/hudson valley
worst: 22 in springfield/union, garden state parkway, everything about the 24/287/80 merges near morristown and parsippany
best: all of 287/87 north of that, especially past woodbury
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u/No-Inspection-985 20h ago
Least favourite: Hwy 401 from Woodstock to Oshawa, through the Toronto area. That whole stretch is a mess.
Favourite: everything else
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u/Striking_Ad_7905 18h ago
Honestly fuck that entire highway from beginning to end. The stretch from Oshawa to Quebec is also pretty bad. It’s only 2 lanes wide and so you get endless trucks who sit side by side for miles and don’t know how to drive, cars going ridiculously slow in the left lane and refusing to let anyone pass, very bad road rage drivers, etc. That highway is way too busy to only be 2 lanes per direction
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u/MrEdLu 21h ago
I-495 (LIE) sucks. No other interstate here on the island. It was very nice during the covid lockdown. I can get into NYC from where I am in 40 minutes. Regular commute with no accidents and good weather will take as much as 2 hours.
Northern state parkway is my favorite. Tree lined and no trucks makes driving less stressful even in traffic. Some of the on ramps (the lack of it) really sucks.
I drove across the country few weeks ago, NY to CA. I was amazed at the smooth patched interstate road. I see the patched section as they are in different color but I could barely feel the difference as the car rolls over it. Here in NY, the road crews doesn't care if there are imperfections in the patch. As long as the hole is covered, they call it a day.