Poll: Worst NY/NJ Area Highways

**RDU-JFK** · 04-30-2007, 03:30 PM

My vote goes to the Brooklyn/Queens Expressway. I believe it is the worst highway ever. Potholes, lane markers that start and stop randomly, constant contstruction and lane diversions, sharp curves, and too many damn trucks!

Do you agree? Which get your vote?

**T-Bird76** · 04-30-2007, 03:41 PM

The Belt Parkway is the worst road in the entire known universe!

**SCOTYDEMCO** · 04-30-2007, 04:37 PM

BQE, Belt, and the Cross Bronx=Traffic

**Matt Molnar** · 04-30-2007, 04:46 PM

I concur with the BQE, Belt and Cross Bronx. Van Wyck is pretty bad too. The LIE is famously known as the "world's longest parking lot" but it's really not that bad compared to the others.

**moose135** · 04-30-2007, 05:14 PM

In my 30 years of driving in the NY Metro area, I've always considered the Cross Bronx Expressway the Highway to Hell. I'll do almost anything to avoid it. Last summer, I made the mistake of taking it heading out of town one Friday evening. It took 2 hours to get the 5 miles from the Throggs Neck to GWB. I swear, I was starting to wonder if I could kill myself with the radar detector cord :shock:

**cancidas** · 04-30-2007, 05:58 PM

ever since bloomberg got into office, every and all NYC roads have really begun suck! glad i own a truck with a good suspension.

**USAF Pilot 07** · 04-30-2007, 08:21 PM

I find the BQE to be the worst, road condition wise. They've been doing "construction" on almost every section of that road for years. The Cross Bronx is absolutely horrible traffic wise. One of my friends had a car senior year of HS and we'd drive back from the Bronx to Manhattan many days from school. Friday afternoons were the worst by far, driving wise. Sometimes the Bronx River would be backed up by cars waiting to get on the Cross Bronx...
It's sooo much quicker to go local in that area, if you know where you are going...

FDR sucks when it rains more than half an inch. Belt is hit or miss. Sometimes you can fly on it, other times traffic is hell all over it... The road is pretty nice though...

I'm making the 1600 mile drive from Colorado to NYC in about a month, and although it will be nice having my car at home, I'm not looking forward to the wear and tear the city is going to put on it...

**hiss srq** · 04-30-2007, 08:28 PM

No kidding. I drive a brand new Nissan as well as the "blue bullet" some of you know and the driving is terrible between LGA and my house in Long Beach. A few days ago I hit a pothole on Rockaway Blvd. and I swore I had lost a wheel.

**lijk604** · 05-01-2007, 10:29 AM

I'll agree with Moose, the BQE has got to be the worst. I dont ever recall making that run in less than 45 mins.

#2: the Belt Parkway between JFK & the Verazzano...why post a speed limit if you can never reach it.

#3: The Cross Bronx, pothole after pothole.

**heeshung** · 05-01-2007, 02:23 PM

Cross Bronx has crazy traffic during rush hours, and I wince everytime I get to the section that's right after you travel under the apartment buildings.

**Steven Holzinger** · 05-03-2007, 03:34 PM

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned any New Jersey highways, so let me chime in!

New Jersey Turnpike (all daylight hours no matter what day... don't bother driving on it around Thanksgiving)
Garden State Parkway (rush hour)
Interstate 80
Interstate 287 (only on weekdays)
US Route 1/9 (entire length sucks no matter what time of day)
US Route 1 (northbound from Trenton to New Brunswick during rush hour and southbound in North Brunswick)
US Route 30/Admiral Wilson Blvd (sucks no matter when... closed when it rains a lot)
US Route 46 (Little Falls/Wayne to I-80 sucks)
NJ Route 18 (New Brunswick, East Brunswick)
NJ Route 27 (New Brunswick, Highland Park, Edison)
NJ Route 38 (Moorestown, Cherry Hill, Merchantville, Collingsville worst in rush hour, mediocre in other weekday hours, ok on weekends)
NJ Route 42 (always seem to miss or barely make it to exits)
NJ Route 70 (Marlton Circle to Admiral Wilson Blvd sucks on weekdays, ok on weekends)
NJ Route 73 (between Tacony-Palmyra Bridge to Berlin sucks on weekdays, ok on weekends)

**PhilDernerJr** · 05-03-2007, 04:00 PM

The Jackie Robinson should really be called the Lou Gehrigs Parkway, because when you're on it, you can't move.

**pgengler** · 05-03-2007, 04:01 PM

Originally Posted by Steven Holzinger

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned any New Jersey highways, so let me chime in!

New Jersey Turnpike (all daylight hours no matter what day... don't bother driving on it around Thanksgiving)

Definitely the Turnpike, and especially two parts: the Merge (down by exit 8A), and the Newark Bay Extension (14 + 14 A/B/C; this portion is also I-78). The merge is always a hassle, when six lanes of traffic become three (whose bright idea was that?!) with traffic sometimes backed up for miles.

The Newark Bay Extension/I-78 is also a pain, especially when they're doing work on the bridge; I was going east on it one morning and four lanes of traffic had to merge down to one to get over the bridge; another time I was trying to get from 14C to the actual Turnpike (about 8 miles or so) and it took nearly two hours (average speed: ~4 mph).

Really, though, any highway in the area is a total mess during rush hour; it's the ones that are a mess when it's not rush hour that are the most annoying. The Belt Parkway is especially notorious for having massive backups on weekends.

Also, nothing is worse than an otherwise smooth ride being ruined by accidents. I used to do a reverse peak commute between Franklin Square and Melville, and usually it would take about 35-45 minutes with not too much traffic. Some days, though, the LIE would just be jammed solid going west, and other days a truck would end up on the Northern State Parkway and bust itself open a bridge. Those were the days I'd end up sitting in the car for an hour and a half to get home.

I've never had a bad experience with the BQE, though I've never really been on it during rush hour. I usually take it on weekends when I'm heading out to do some spotting at JFK, since I come through Manhattan and it's easier than going out to the Van Wyck. Even when I was coming out to catch the A380 though (7/7:30ish on a Monday morning) it wasn't too bad.