How long does your local "rush hour" last?

[Redfraggle]

I was reading that thread about the guy being in Atlanta and alfa saying how it took him 3 hours to get a short distance during rush hour there. It got me to thinking how it's pretty much a misnomer is most places now, and lasts a lot longer than an hour. I thought it would be interesting to see how it levels out for ATOT.

 

[guyver01]

dont know. i work graves. no traffic

 

[paulney]

Morning - starts at around 7, over around 10. From South San Jose to Mountain View/Sunnyvale. Back - starts at around 5pm over by 8pm.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Typically around 30 mins. If people weren't so retarded everyone would just start staggering their start/finish times and there'd hardly be a traffic problem at all. But no, people are much too stupid.

I believe in other areas of the city it may be much worse, but I haven't been here long and have hardly left my little bubble.

 

[Crono]

dont know. i work graves. no traffic

Same here.

Although last time I checked, it was around 7:30-9:00 AM for peak morning traffic, and 5:00-7:00PM evening. Northern NYC suburbs.

 

[kamikazekyle]

Here, it depends. If you're staying within the city limits, the rush hour is about 2 hours but most roads can accomidate without getting jammed. That being said, there are three choke points when leaving the city limits -- the interstate drops from 6 lanes to 2 lanes at a *major* junction, and that usually causes a backup. There are then two bridges/tunnels along said interstate going the opposite direction where, again, it drops to 2 lanes and have backups. The fact that these chokepoints don't really have effective (if any) alternative routes is what makes things worse.

I'd say rush hour about 3-4+ hours at those choke points. It doesn't mean it *takes* 3-4 hours to get through them (normally adds 30 minutes to an hour on your trip), but that the backups don't clear. Timeframes are usually from ~6-10am, and ~3-6:30pm or later.

 

[zinfamous]

where is the option for infinity?

 

[MotionMan]

In L.A., rush "hour" is basically 24/7. It is better at times, though.

MotionMan

 

[zerocool84]

In L.A., rush "hour" is basically 24/7. It is better at times, though.

MotionMan

It's called when is there less traffic, not rush hour.

 

[MotionMan]

It's called when is there less traffic, not rush hour.

Compared to other places, the best traffic time in L.A. is like a rush "hour".

MotionMan

 

[nanette1985]

Best case - couple of hours
Normal - more than a couple of hours
Worst case - fuhgeddaboudit

NJ suburb of NYC

 

[BarkingGhostar]

I can't imagine a place where it is under 2 hours. Morning rush hour near me (Gwinnett County, Georgia) is like 6AM-9:30AM and 4PM-8PM.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

i dont know. i drive to school around 7am a lot, and the traffic is certainly light around here then. it may be silicon valley where most engineers dont go in til past 9, but i remember my summer internships where i had to get there by 820. if i left at 8, it would be slow, but if i left anywhere before 745, i'd zip there in 9 minutes.

the afternoon commute starts up around 430ish, but it's not bad til about 530. i have class at 6pm a lot, and if i head out by 450, i can be ok with the traffic and get there by 415, but if i head out as late as 520 or 530, ill be totally late... certain highways start smoothing out anywhere after 630-7, but i've seen some roads where it jams til 730ish.

 

[sdifox]

highway, it's only not rush hour in the middle of the night
local probably 2.5hr

 

[rcpratt]

In the morning it's got to be at least 3 hours. Afternoon maybe 2, 2.5.

 

[Anubis]

no such thing here

 

[Anneka]

just the other day managed to stay blocked in traffic and made only 2 km in 1 h.....
Things need to change around here....

 

[Linflas]

I no longer participate in rush hour but here in Northern Virginia rush hour pretty much goes from 0430-1030 then 1430-1930. Outside those times it is just normal traffic hell as opposed to rush hour traffic hell. It is the inevitable result of increasing your population over a span of 40 years by 2 million people and doing absolutely nothing to upgrade the highway system to handle the growth. The basic road system here is the one that was in place at the time of the Civil War with pavement and traffic signals. The only truly new roads are a couple of parkways and 3 interstate highways along with hundreds of miles of suburban streets that filled in what was once farm land.

 

[shortylickens]

I dont personally drive during rush hour but as Linflas just pointed out, in the Manassas area it lasts quite a while. I've left school at various times and it seems the traffic around here gets started a little after 3 and goes heavy until almost 7.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Living in NYC, SF, Seattle and Boston. They all start around 6-6:30am to 10am in the morning and 3-7pm, except NYC which is pretty much 6am-12pm. Thankfully, I only had to deal with Seattle traffic, everywhere else public transportation/bike/foot.

 

[crownjules]

Live just outside Boston and take 93 into town before "reverse commuting" out to the suburbs. In the morning, traffic starts getting congested around 6:30AM and will be that way until around 9:30. The evening is usually 5 - 7ish.

 

[Imp]

2+

Highways are jammed from 6:30am to 9:30am minimum. It starts again at 3pm to 7pm minimum.

This is what happens when your public transport is gimped, and everyone who works in the main city lives in the suburbs.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

About 3hrs around here. 6:30-9:30AM and 3:30-6:30PM. However even non "rush hour" traffic around here is medium-heavy, about the only time traffic is truly light is in the wee hours of morning 2:00-4:00AM.

 

[Texashiker]

I live in a rural town with a population of about 8,000 people. We have no rush hour.

My wife and I leave home about 7am, go to sonic and get a tea, she drops me off at work, then she drives across town (about 5 minutes) to her job. I am usually at my desk by around 7:14 - 7:20.

After work, my wife picks me up and we drive home, which takes about 5 - 6 minutes.

Feels good not having to deal with traffic, real good.

 

[Linflas]

I live in a rural town with a population of about 8,000 people. We have no rush hour.

My wife and I leave home about 7am, go to sonic and get a tea, she drops me off at work, then she drives across town (about 5 minutes) to her job. I am usually at my desk by around 7:14 - 7:20.

After work, my wife picks me up and we drive home, which takes about 5 - 6 minutes.

Feels good not having to deal with traffic, real good.

Escaping the commuting rat race is the absolute best decision I have made in my life. The 18% pay cut was tough to take at first but the peace it brought to my life is priceless. I leave my house at 0640 and am at my desk 15 minutes later.