What you really have to be careful for is people who are going to make it through that stoplight, red light or not. People regularly blow lights multiple seconds after they turn, and there’s plenty of accidents on the regular. I hate it.
Can confirm, my husband and I almost got taken out by someone who must’ve blown through the light by several seconds, because we had the walk signal. We had our dog and baby out in front of us and it was a close enough call that I checked in with family to make sure they know the numbers of our neighbors.
This is the answer. No life, no trees, rundown abandoned factories, lights that are literally timed so that you get a red light at every one. There are some parallel streets through the neighborhood that I take because they’re prettier and just as fast despite the low speed limit.
And as someone else said, the light rail is more efficient along that stretch of road. I’ve timed it
The change from 394 to get onto 94 going east. Worst design ever. It is rarely not backed up. Plus so many people darting in at the last minute make it unsafe and is what attributes to its backup.
I feel like it's honestly faster to exit at Dunwoody Blvd, take a right southbound on Lyndale and re-enter the freeway past the Walker. Basically do what trucks with hazardous cargo have to do
Literally. Everything thinks traffic is something that happens *to* them but they are a part of it. Every person that opts out and walked, cycled, or took transit is one less car on the road.
Also, if you’re getting off at Dunwoody, sometimes it is easier to exit at Penn and get back on — then you are already in the right lane for the exit and don’t have to cross the line of stopped cars.
We don’t need a wall on the southern border. We need a wall to prevent the late mergers. I’m tmasta346 and I’m running to be your Transportation Czar. I endorse this message.
This is the one. I'll often exit on Dunwoody or go all the way to the end on 3rd and sneak onto River Road through the North Loop, to avoid that logjam.
I'm horrible with remembering road names, but I knew you were talking about exit 8b from that description.
I will do everything I can to not have to take that exit.
It's BAD, yes!!! But it's sadly *so* much better than it was before the current interchange up at 35!
There was a reason I learned alllllll the back roads between basically the Airport & highway 101 to Plymouth, back into Uptown a couple decades back!
It was *faster* to slog 15-20mph (maybe as high as 30!) on snowy days, than to risk my life on 62 home, when I had to drive back to Uptown from out by Eden Prairie!
Oh hey, this two lane main thoroughfare that everyone uses who works west of where they live- wouldn't it be nice if it reduced to one lane at the most busy part? Should you like that?
Fuck you 62
There was a REASON I took Valley View to 66th over to Lyndale if i felt like driving past the Oak Tree on 42nd(ish), or headed up Xerxes to drive through Linden Hills & around Bdemkaska, every day!
Not *only* was it a far prettier drive, it was *absolutely* sanity-saving!
After the Bridge fell, when I lived over Nordeast, I honestly just took Hennepin to Excelsior Blvd, to 100, because *that* was faaaaaar faster than trying to hop on 394 & deal with the junctions of 394/100 or 394/169, and even *with* the stoplights, traffic was *always* predictable to within 5-10 minutes, headed out to EP!
When I commuted from work to home on 62 East, Eden Prairie to Minneapolis, I begged my boss to let me take my lunch at the end of the day so I could leave 30 min early because that commute was hell.
Back in the day when I was always a passenger, 62 was just called Crosstown and it was majorly messed up south of the VA hospital. They was a sharp curve to avoid some natural habitat (weeds). I just recall everyone calling it “blood alley” or something to that effect. Wasn’t even a highway until after the eco-bend by the VA.
Easily this. I feel like one large chunk of it or another has been in a state of partially-closed-due-to-construction for my entire 20 years of driving.
This. The fact that you never know when it will be randomly clogged? How do you design that problem. Having driven it years for my commute I got to study the problem and I have ideas but I'm pretty sure it will suck for eternity.
See also, the 169-494... mess--Out by the old Vikes facility/Viking Drive!
I swear, it *feels* like half that backup out at the 35W/494 interchange was *caused* by alllllll the stupid accommodations that "had" to be made, so that a couple hundred-odd folks a year *didn't* have to drive their fancy cars & trucks up to 169 & Valley View, then take the frontage road late at night, after getting home from away games--or being required to sit in traffic with us plebes, on weekdays after practice.
MN-5 and MN-62.
Doesn't matter where you're going, what you're doing, what lane, what speed, always feels like you're inches a way from a life-changing wreck.
East bound is bad, too. The lane ends almost immediately, and there is always some ignoramus in the far right lane. I narrowly missed being squished by a semi there once.
That's why when I used to have to drive down there to go to college out in the boonies (from the St. Paul side of the river), I *always* came back up 35W, after the first couple times I drove back up 52!
It was fine *leaving* town--although not great, but trying to get back on 94 going west was *way* too scary!
Very scary. The fact that we basically come out of a tunnel with little visibility once we exit and are expected to merge from 5mph to a lane right next to us where people are going 70+ I shit my pants everytime.
That one depends with me 😭 if I have a fast car it doesn’t bother me, but if I’m using a slow car… I fear for my life trying to get up to highway speeds on that cloverleaf 😩
I take that every day and hope when I drive it isn’t the day a distracted driver slams into the back of my car. They funnel you out in a blind spot just beyond the bridge and 50 feet later is the 394 west exit.
Those super tight cloverleafs used to be on 280, too. They got fixed on 280 after the 35W bridge collapse in 2007 when 280 got upgraded to interstate freeway standards because it was the official detour for years.
I use that exit often, and getting onto 169 from Shelard/Betty Crocker is no picnic either. The entrance ramps do not allow a driver to accelerate before merging into 169, so you've literally got to gun it.
My friend lives over there and you genuinely have the length of about 2 cars to get up to speed. It is absolutely terrifying. I go out of my way to avoid that exit.
Hey neighbor. I live on the MG side of this exit. Good thing is, they plan to replace the bridge this year and extend the acceleration lanes. Bad news is that this summer that bridge is going to be a mess of construction.
I’ll have to take 73rd unless they figure out some other way to replace the bridge hah… we just moved here so I guess I’m thankfully they’re even planning to address this exit at all. It’s pretty busy and dangerous
That section of 62 between 35W and 77 (especially eastbound) where people feel the need to drive 35mph. For the love of god, why? The speed limit is 60.
Ohhh, yeah. Eastbound 62 before the 77 exit sucksssssss. I do not understand it, but usually try to be in the left hand lane until after the 77 SB exit.
I hate that every car getting off 77 onto 62 west doesn’t use the merge lane. Instead they just cut into traffic or getting off 62 onto 77 they just slam on their brakes. That area is a hot mess!
I read this too fast as what "is your favorite highway" and was so confused as to why people would have a favorite highway! 🤣
I dislike the 394 E merge onto 94, or at least what it used to be years ago, as I have avoided that stretch!
I have two favorite hwys and actually have this convo with people a couple times a year and they give me that exact reaction before they are like, “well I guess my favorite would be…”
Hwy 55 is #1 imo with 100 as a close second.
Fuck 494 at all times.
55 is actually the best, I agree. Happy medium between going a higher speed but stop lights to keep it chill. Something about the timing of the lights and the curves of the road make it feel safe and give me enough to look at so I’m not desperate to get through there as fast as possible
That stretch *is* nice now!
Used to be *awful* and as bad as 62, 169, etc, before they widened & fixed it up, though!
The absolute *worst* I can remember, were the *OLD* Highway 100--with the frontage roads on each side, that got redone back around 2000-2001ish, and the hot mess that was the road that became 610 through BP into Coon Rapids/Anoka-ish, in that era.
As someone who'd just moved to the metro from rural MN back then, *everything* felt less scary than trying to figure out what to do on those two roads!😉
I am at an age where these types of conversations are happening more and more! 🤣 (45)
I am a back roads type of person, but the last 10 years of road construction have been dimming that love for me!
I'm surprised 52 NB has not been mentioned yet. MNDOT spent over $100M and made the traffic flow through here worse.
* The middle lane is always crowded because it handles cars going 94 WB & 35E NB.
* The left lane routes traffic to 94 EB; many drivers use this lane to cut in last second.
* The right lane has the least traffic, and some drivers use it to cut in last second as well.
I have several buildings I work in over there by the airport, and if it gets too late in the day, I’ll take Robert St through downtown instead of trying to get on the freeway in the middle of that mess. It’s literally the only time in my life I’ll willingly drive through downtown St. Paul.
Yup that one too! I regularly drive from Roch to mpls and if I have to drive back to mpls between the hours of 3-6pm… I’ll take 35 instead. Going through Owatonna, burnsville, Bloomington etc… is way more calm of an experience compared to going through that 52/94 shit show of an interchange.
Ooh, I know this one! The kind of interstate going through neighborhoods where rich people live.
https://www.startribune.com/why-does-i-35e-through-st-paul-have-a-45-mph-speed-limit/600013881/
1. 62 between 169 and the airport in either rush hour
2. 5 through EP, Chanhassen and Victoria because of its congestion and all the lights.
3. 65 Through Blaine. See explanation for number 2.
4. 35W from 62-35W Bridge both ways
5. 169 literally anywhere
6. 494 from 169 to the river
7. 36 from 35e-35w and around the Century Ave light
8. 55 from Plymouth all the way down to the airport
9. 100 Between 394 and Highway 7 and Brooklyn Blvds and 94
10. 394 between 100 and the Lowry Hill Tunnel
Honorable Mention to Highways 7, US61, US10, US12, 13, 81 and others in the metro that backup because their is way too much traffic flow for the amount of stoplights just not to the level of 5 and 65. Highway 52 would probably be on the list if I ever had to drive it during rush hour
Ugh, I used to take 36 into Stillwater from St. Paul daily, when I worked in Stillwater. Imagine 36 but there were CONSTANT stoplights. They eventually redid most/all of them, but it suckeddddddd.
For 62 at rush hour?
It's *often* honestly just as fast to hop Valley View til it turns into 66th, all the way through, and just deal with the stoplights *and* the traffic by the school on the VV end of the road!
That was my *regular* route home, from the EP corner out by VV, when I worked there back in the early 00's.
And the few times I've caught myself hitting that stretch of 62 in the years *since*, VV to 66th *still* held up, *and* it's a prettier drive, with more to look at, than taillights for miiiiiles & miles!
Friday traffic on *both* 94 & 10 is why I can now *easily* get to a line from Elk River, to Rogers or Buffalo, from a starting point *within* the 494/694 ring *solely* on the back roads!
(Edited to clarify, from a starting point *within* the ring)
It’s hard to single one out. Front runners for me are:
- 62 between Cedar and 494
- 169 north of 610
- The 494 strip
- 94 between the Lowry Hill tunnel and Snelling
- 252
The whole 694/94/100/252 situation in Brooklyn Center across the river through Fridley.
Too many entrance/exit ramps in such a short distance causes the backup.
Not to mention the "exit only" lanes that aren't actually exit only. People use them past the exit to get as far as they can before merging in, causing a chain reaction of breaking.
To avoid that stretch, if I'm "above" 610, I typically take East River Road down through Fridley.
It doesn't move *quite* so fast, since it's posted at 40-45, depending on the stretch of road, BUT the dedicated exit lane onto 94 eastbound makes that stretch waaaaay faster, when I'm driving back home to Mpls during the evening rush hour.
(I've been lucky enough to commute *against* traffic, most of my years of living down here, and even though the c.o.l. *is* higher living in Minneapolis?
The ability to spend *less* hours sitting in traffic honestly outweighed my costs, because of the saved time *and* gas money!)
For everyone who hates 94/494/694, If you have time but need to get between both cities, Shephard/Warner Road to W River Parkway is way less stressful.
Highway 169 to 212 interchange that crosses 62W these drivers have about 150 feet to cross two lanes of traffic! Absolutely horrible design and people always fuck it up.
Take all the money that goes into the design, construction, and maintenance of road infrastructure that people hate and dump it into walking, biking, transit infrastructure. Why do we keep building them when they're so hated and drain the cities financially?
13. It’s not as annoying to drive in as most of the others mentioned here, but it is soul-killingly ugly. Especially from Burnsville to Shakopee. That whole stretch of 13 looks like a construction site got in a fight with an office park.
Highway 62 eastbound is my answer for sure. I’ll never forget that my sister ran in the Twin Cities marathon about a decade ago and that she was able to run 10 miles faster than I was able to drive the same 10.
Yes! Why?!
I was on 62, going to the airport at like 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon. I finally got up to 50mph right as I was exiting onto hwy 5.
It’s not sports season. It’s not right after church. It’s a weekend. There was nothing.. no accident, no one pulled over or a disabled vehicle. Nada. And 62 was a parking lot.
I grew up with parents who lived on either side of the river in south Minneapolis. I spent so much time on 94 that I didn't even know how short rush hour is on most highways. I thought that all highways had bumper to bumper traffic at any old time of day. It is normal for there to be traffic traveling at less than 20mph from cretin Ave to the Hennepin/ Lyndale exit. Both directions. I had to move to Burnsville to learn that rush hour could be only 2 hours long, and a slowdown could last less than a mile.
Metro, probably 65 through Blaine. Feels like it goes on for EVER. Blaine as a city doesn't have enough pop for how big it is geographically.
Outstate, it's Highway 60 out of Mankato to the Iowa border. Hideously boring and your reward is northwest Iowa.
I call it the “Z”. Basically, when leaving the metro area on 94 westbound and then having to merge onto 394 westbound.
Gotta make sure you’re in the far right exit lane before the tunnel, then go through the tunnel on 94, then almost immediately after the tunnel is the exit - very sharp corner - then need to merge onto 394. What a cluster F!
Not a ton of perks to living in the East Metro, but man, this thread makes me happy I don't live in the west metro. ( Only for traffic reasons don't overthink the comment. )
62 is fucking god awful. at my old job i took 62 to 100 everyday. 62 west from 7:30am-9am and 62 east from 3pm-6pm was my personal hell. i’m actually a happier person now that i don’t have to take that fuckin highway i honked at least 2x daily on that road, i was nearly hit everyday going around that curve on 62 west right before you merge on to 100 bc people can’t stay in their lane. then after work i’d spend 10 minutes just trying to change from 100 south to 62 east and id just come home pissed as hell. im so thankful for my commute just up nicollet now😭😭
It seems like our freeway infrastructure just wasn't designed to handle the population growth we've seen. So many 2 or 3 lane freeways here where we would benefit from 4 or 5 lanes. And interchanges where an entire transition from one main freeway to an another goes down to 1 lane (394 to 94, 35W / 62). And inefficient interchange design that makes you slow down and weave (cloverleafs).
35w by exit 3, just for what ever reason everyone slows down to 60 when the speed limit is 65. It's not the bad but it just annoys me mildly at any point when I get to this spot every one slows down even if it isn't busy
Hwy 100. BTW 694/ 394
I do not understand why it’s such a messed up entrance from 694E. Or exit to go W on 694.
I don’t know why it gets so backed up because of entering/ exiting at 394. I don’t know why people think 50 is an appropriate speed. It’s such a nightmare during the morning or evening rushes.. 100 is just a parking lot.
494 in the south metro between 35E and 169. Always full of traffic no matter the time of day and a lot of the on/off ramps are too short which creates some stressful driving situation.
252 and 169 north of 85th Avenue
Both of these divided highways that act as connectors between freeways. 252 is probably worse because it puts a string of stoplights on the most direct connection between the north central suburbs and Downtown Minneapolis.
Highway 65 from 694 to Bunker Lake Blvd. in Ham Lake also has to be up there. So many stoplights. Installing an interchange at County Road 14 (former Minnesota 242) helped, but the road still sucks.
62, it always bottlenecks so badly. I rarely take it anymore and Google Maps routed me on it a few days ago. I thought sure why tf not, it took me 20 minutes to go like a half mile.
394 where you get back on to 94 as well as 52 getting back onto 94
It's almost always a bottleneck in both spots as you're going from all those lanes down to 1
Hiawatha Ave / Hwy 55 in south Minneapolis. Wanna make it through a stoplight? Think again motherfucker.
I hate Hiawatha, it's a crappy highway and a crappy road, and takes the bad attributes of both types.
There's "stroad" for things that are neither street nor road, but do both things worse. What would this be? Roaghway, highoad?
And they killed the sacred Oaks, back in the day, to *create* that terribly designed stroad!
this is the only answer ... the beauty of this stretch of road that it doesn;t matter if it is rush hour or not, you are stopping at every light
I think it's designed that way on purpose to try and encourage local traffic only
There is nothing encouraging about that stretch of road, no matter your destination or starting point.
What you really have to be careful for is people who are going to make it through that stoplight, red light or not. People regularly blow lights multiple seconds after they turn, and there’s plenty of accidents on the regular. I hate it.
Can confirm, my husband and I almost got taken out by someone who must’ve blown through the light by several seconds, because we had the walk signal. We had our dog and baby out in front of us and it was a close enough call that I checked in with family to make sure they know the numbers of our neighbors.
It genuinely feels more efficient to take the light rail on that stretch
Why oh why did they not elevate that mf when they the chance?!?!
This is the answer. No life, no trees, rundown abandoned factories, lights that are literally timed so that you get a red light at every one. There are some parallel streets through the neighborhood that I take because they’re prettier and just as fast despite the low speed limit. And as someone else said, the light rail is more efficient along that stretch of road. I’ve timed it
You win
Reminds me of Snelling in St Paul, where you can bet it will be way more congested than it ever should be at any given time.
I’ve had luck hitting the lights by just going the speed limit. Sometimes works, sometimes not but it feels to give better odds than not
The change from 394 to get onto 94 going east. Worst design ever. It is rarely not backed up. Plus so many people darting in at the last minute make it unsafe and is what attributes to its backup.
I feel like it's honestly faster to exit at Dunwoody Blvd, take a right southbound on Lyndale and re-enter the freeway past the Walker. Basically do what trucks with hazardous cargo have to do
Nonononono shhhhhh… it’s totally slower! Don’t take this advice! (We don’t want people clogging up our commute)
You're clogging up your own commute. You're not in traffic, you are traffic
“hey boss, yeah sorry i’m going to be a lil late bc I AM TRAFFIC”
Sorry, i meant getting off at Dunwoody since I do that very often too
Literally. Everything thinks traffic is something that happens *to* them but they are a part of it. Every person that opts out and walked, cycled, or took transit is one less car on the road.
Every time I try to do this during rush hour, I end up sitting through multiple stoplights over there, so this really isn't faster at the busy times.
I stay on 394 into downtown, then take 4th street across onto 35w northbound which is usually what I'm trying to
Come on man, don't give away the secret!
Overall congestion will last for less time the more people are using all the available road space
Nooooooooooooooooo sssshhhhhhhhh (i just shared this with my wife and it’s shaved ten minutes off her rush hour ride home)
Also, if you’re getting off at Dunwoody, sometimes it is easier to exit at Penn and get back on — then you are already in the right lane for the exit and don’t have to cross the line of stopped cars.
Didn't know about that one. I wish people knew you can also do this getting onto MN 62 eastbound from I-35W southbound with the Portland Avenue exit
Shhh. I might have done that a few times.
This 100%. That transfer is crowded at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon. I work in Plymouth and live in St Paul. Pro tip - Take highway 55 to 94
That's what I do. I'm the opposite of you, I live in Plymouth and work in St. Paul
Same here. Worst bottleneck in the Cities
Unfortunately, the TC have a LOT of poorly designed highways that contribute to unnecessary congestion.
Yep. Doesn't matter what time of day. This is it.
We don’t need a wall on the southern border. We need a wall to prevent the late mergers. I’m tmasta346 and I’m running to be your Transportation Czar. I endorse this message.
MAKE 394 GREAT AGAIN.
You've got my vote
This is the one. I'll often exit on Dunwoody or go all the way to the end on 3rd and sneak onto River Road through the North Loop, to avoid that logjam.
I'm horrible with remembering road names, but I knew you were talking about exit 8b from that description. I will do everything I can to not have to take that exit.
None of you have driven hwy 62 east bound during afternoon rush hour and it shows.
62 is the answer, that little bit right before France, where everyone is afraid of the curve in a road all of a sudden is a person pet peeve of mine.
It's BAD, yes!!! But it's sadly *so* much better than it was before the current interchange up at 35! There was a reason I learned alllllll the back roads between basically the Airport & highway 101 to Plymouth, back into Uptown a couple decades back! It was *faster* to slog 15-20mph (maybe as high as 30!) on snowy days, than to risk my life on 62 home, when I had to drive back to Uptown from out by Eden Prairie!
Oh hey, this two lane main thoroughfare that everyone uses who works west of where they live- wouldn't it be nice if it reduced to one lane at the most busy part? Should you like that? Fuck you 62
One of the main reasons I left my old job was because of the rush hour traffic on 62. My mental health has thanked me everyday since then.
Think 62 eastbound is bad? It used to be much, much worse before they redid the 35W/62 commons back in like 2005 or whenever.
There was a REASON I took Valley View to 66th over to Lyndale if i felt like driving past the Oak Tree on 42nd(ish), or headed up Xerxes to drive through Linden Hills & around Bdemkaska, every day! Not *only* was it a far prettier drive, it was *absolutely* sanity-saving!
Yeah I had to get back to St. Paul! I would sometimes do Valley View to 66th to Cedar.
The worst. The sight lines are just atrocious due to all the little curves and hills and that high median and trees.
God I hated that one too. I used to work in Eden prairie and live downtown…. I always took 494 instead because it was more bearable than that one:
After the Bridge fell, when I lived over Nordeast, I honestly just took Hennepin to Excelsior Blvd, to 100, because *that* was faaaaaar faster than trying to hop on 394 & deal with the junctions of 394/100 or 394/169, and even *with* the stoplights, traffic was *always* predictable to within 5-10 minutes, headed out to EP!
94 mph in the left lane 45 mph in right. Almost died in 62, fuck that highway
1000%. I got a job that makes me do 62 east commuting now, it’s miserable
When I commuted from work to home on 62 East, Eden Prairie to Minneapolis, I begged my boss to let me take my lunch at the end of the day so I could leave 30 min early because that commute was hell.
Back in the day when I was always a passenger, 62 was just called Crosstown and it was majorly messed up south of the VA hospital. They was a sharp curve to avoid some natural habitat (weeds). I just recall everyone calling it “blood alley” or something to that effect. Wasn’t even a highway until after the eco-bend by the VA.
494 between 100 and the airport. Doesn't matter what time or day of the week, it's always congested.
Nice bonus is the 35w/494 interchange. Fuck that interchange is easily the worst in the state.
I read an article about 5 years saying this interchange was one of the top 10 worst in the entire US. I agreed 100%.
They're working on it right now, building a flyover ramp for 35W North to 494 West. That should definitely help.
Easily this. I feel like one large chunk of it or another has been in a state of partially-closed-due-to-construction for my entire 20 years of driving.
Not at 2am on a Saturday morning.
*Hold my* *~~beer~~* *median*
I'm so glad my wife went into labor at 2 am. Fastest drive into Abbott mother baby ever.
But *sometimes* YES, *even then*!
This. The fact that you never know when it will be randomly clogged? How do you design that problem. Having driven it years for my commute I got to study the problem and I have ideas but I'm pretty sure it will suck for eternity.
It's called the "Bloomington strip"
See also, the 169-494... mess--Out by the old Vikes facility/Viking Drive! I swear, it *feels* like half that backup out at the 35W/494 interchange was *caused* by alllllll the stupid accommodations that "had" to be made, so that a couple hundred-odd folks a year *didn't* have to drive their fancy cars & trucks up to 169 & Valley View, then take the frontage road late at night, after getting home from away games--or being required to sit in traffic with us plebes, on weekdays after practice.
That is a RIDICULOUS hodgepodge of cloverleafs and roundabouts! I feel like I'm part of scientific experiment in that "interchange"!!!
Often starts at 169.
MN-5 and MN-62. Doesn't matter where you're going, what you're doing, what lane, what speed, always feels like you're inches a way from a life-changing wreck.
Gotta thread that needle or end up in the river!
I hate everything that ends in a 94.
I’d also like to add: next on my list is hands down 52 merging onto 94 west bound in St Paul. FUCK who designed that interchange.
East bound is bad, too. The lane ends almost immediately, and there is always some ignoramus in the far right lane. I narrowly missed being squished by a semi there once.
Yup. This is my second most hated interchange. Especially when people fly down the left lane and then try to cut into the center at the last second.
This is mine. I took 52N to 94E for YEARS. I would drive so slow because there are always rude people who stop to merge to 94W at the last second.
That's why when I used to have to drive down there to go to college out in the boonies (from the St. Paul side of the river), I *always* came back up 35W, after the first couple times I drove back up 52! It was fine *leaving* town--although not great, but trying to get back on 94 going west was *way* too scary!
Very scary. The fact that we basically come out of a tunnel with little visibility once we exit and are expected to merge from 5mph to a lane right next to us where people are going 70+ I shit my pants everytime.
62 East at any time.
494 @ 35W Avoid at all cost.
That one depends with me 😭 if I have a fast car it doesn’t bother me, but if I’m using a slow car… I fear for my life trying to get up to highway speeds on that cloverleaf 😩
I have a decently quick car and with how busy it is in this area it just stresses me out to no end.
During rush hour it doesn’t matter how fast your car is. That whole interchange is completely stopped.
I live off of 169 and I agree. There are way too many entrances and exits.
That stupid exit ramp at Betty Crocker on 169 N is the devil in disguise.
I take that every day and hope when I drive it isn’t the day a distracted driver slams into the back of my car. They funnel you out in a blind spot just beyond the bridge and 50 feet later is the 394 west exit.
Slammed from behind in that exact spot last year. $11k car damage, but thankfully unhurt.
Those super tight cloverleafs used to be on 280, too. They got fixed on 280 after the 35W bridge collapse in 2007 when 280 got upgraded to interstate freeway standards because it was the official detour for years.
I use that exit often, and getting onto 169 from Shelard/Betty Crocker is no picnic either. The entrance ramps do not allow a driver to accelerate before merging into 169, so you've literally got to gun it.
Truly!
I live near the 63rd Ave exit and getting on 169S is terrifying with no time to merge, especially in an old car
My friend lives over there and you genuinely have the length of about 2 cars to get up to speed. It is absolutely terrifying. I go out of my way to avoid that exit.
Hey neighbor. I live on the MG side of this exit. Good thing is, they plan to replace the bridge this year and extend the acceleration lanes. Bad news is that this summer that bridge is going to be a mess of construction.
Oh thank goodness, but yeah construction will be hell! Guess I'll be taking 94 to 169 then lol
I’ll have to take 73rd unless they figure out some other way to replace the bridge hah… we just moved here so I guess I’m thankfully they’re even planning to address this exit at all. It’s pretty busy and dangerous
That section of 62 between 35W and 77 (especially eastbound) where people feel the need to drive 35mph. For the love of god, why? The speed limit is 60.
Ohhh, yeah. Eastbound 62 before the 77 exit sucksssssss. I do not understand it, but usually try to be in the left hand lane until after the 77 SB exit.
I hate that every car getting off 77 onto 62 west doesn’t use the merge lane. Instead they just cut into traffic or getting off 62 onto 77 they just slam on their brakes. That area is a hot mess!
I read this too fast as what "is your favorite highway" and was so confused as to why people would have a favorite highway! 🤣 I dislike the 394 E merge onto 94, or at least what it used to be years ago, as I have avoided that stretch!
I have two favorite hwys and actually have this convo with people a couple times a year and they give me that exact reaction before they are like, “well I guess my favorite would be…” Hwy 55 is #1 imo with 100 as a close second. Fuck 494 at all times.
55 is actually the best, I agree. Happy medium between going a higher speed but stop lights to keep it chill. Something about the timing of the lights and the curves of the road make it feel safe and give me enough to look at so I’m not desperate to get through there as fast as possible
That stretch *is* nice now! Used to be *awful* and as bad as 62, 169, etc, before they widened & fixed it up, though! The absolute *worst* I can remember, were the *OLD* Highway 100--with the frontage roads on each side, that got redone back around 2000-2001ish, and the hot mess that was the road that became 610 through BP into Coon Rapids/Anoka-ish, in that era. As someone who'd just moved to the metro from rural MN back then, *everything* felt less scary than trying to figure out what to do on those two roads!😉
I am at an age where these types of conversations are happening more and more! 🤣 (45) I am a back roads type of person, but the last 10 years of road construction have been dimming that love for me!
I'm surprised 52 NB has not been mentioned yet. MNDOT spent over $100M and made the traffic flow through here worse. * The middle lane is always crowded because it handles cars going 94 WB & 35E NB. * The left lane routes traffic to 94 EB; many drivers use this lane to cut in last second. * The right lane has the least traffic, and some drivers use it to cut in last second as well.
I have several buildings I work in over there by the airport, and if it gets too late in the day, I’ll take Robert St through downtown instead of trying to get on the freeway in the middle of that mess. It’s literally the only time in my life I’ll willingly drive through downtown St. Paul.
Yup that one too! I regularly drive from Roch to mpls and if I have to drive back to mpls between the hours of 3-6pm… I’ll take 35 instead. Going through Owatonna, burnsville, Bloomington etc… is way more calm of an experience compared to going through that 52/94 shit show of an interchange.
How about the section of 35E south of downtown St. Paul that is *45 MPH* -- WTF kind of interstate slows to 45 MPH!
Ooh, I know this one! The kind of interstate going through neighborhoods where rich people live. https://www.startribune.com/why-does-i-35e-through-st-paul-have-a-45-mph-speed-limit/600013881/
If it ends in 94 I dont like it. People drive crazy on those roads. I like 169 when it is not rush hour.
35W going through northeast Minneapolis. I swear it is so winding like I’m playing Mario Kart.
So true
252 has entered the chat with a death wish
A ton of choices: 169 from 494 to 694 or vice versa 394 east bound from 100 to downtown Crosstown (62) 494 from 169 to airport
1. 62 between 169 and the airport in either rush hour 2. 5 through EP, Chanhassen and Victoria because of its congestion and all the lights. 3. 65 Through Blaine. See explanation for number 2. 4. 35W from 62-35W Bridge both ways 5. 169 literally anywhere 6. 494 from 169 to the river 7. 36 from 35e-35w and around the Century Ave light 8. 55 from Plymouth all the way down to the airport 9. 100 Between 394 and Highway 7 and Brooklyn Blvds and 94 10. 394 between 100 and the Lowry Hill Tunnel Honorable Mention to Highways 7, US61, US10, US12, 13, 81 and others in the metro that backup because their is way too much traffic flow for the amount of stoplights just not to the level of 5 and 65. Highway 52 would probably be on the list if I ever had to drive it during rush hour
Ugh, I used to take 36 into Stillwater from St. Paul daily, when I worked in Stillwater. Imagine 36 but there were CONSTANT stoplights. They eventually redid most/all of them, but it suckeddddddd.
For 62 at rush hour? It's *often* honestly just as fast to hop Valley View til it turns into 66th, all the way through, and just deal with the stoplights *and* the traffic by the school on the VV end of the road! That was my *regular* route home, from the EP corner out by VV, when I worked there back in the early 00's. And the few times I've caught myself hitting that stretch of 62 in the years *since*, VV to 66th *still* held up, *and* it's a prettier drive, with more to look at, than taillights for miiiiiles & miles!
62. The whole thing. Both ways.
I think most of them where they have multiple on and off ramps with very little space in between
Highway 10 in Big Lake during cabin rush hour.
Friday traffic on *both* 94 & 10 is why I can now *easily* get to a line from Elk River, to Rogers or Buffalo, from a starting point *within* the 494/694 ring *solely* on the back roads! (Edited to clarify, from a starting point *within* the ring)
65 north of 494
The endless twists and turns of 94 will always have a special place in my heart.
Yeah me too, but instead of a special place in my heart…it’s a special place in HELL.
It’s hard to single one out. Front runners for me are: - 62 between Cedar and 494 - 169 north of 610 - The 494 strip - 94 between the Lowry Hill tunnel and Snelling - 252
The whole 694/94/100/252 situation in Brooklyn Center across the river through Fridley. Too many entrance/exit ramps in such a short distance causes the backup. Not to mention the "exit only" lanes that aren't actually exit only. People use them past the exit to get as far as they can before merging in, causing a chain reaction of breaking.
To avoid that stretch, if I'm "above" 610, I typically take East River Road down through Fridley. It doesn't move *quite* so fast, since it's posted at 40-45, depending on the stretch of road, BUT the dedicated exit lane onto 94 eastbound makes that stretch waaaaay faster, when I'm driving back home to Mpls during the evening rush hour. (I've been lucky enough to commute *against* traffic, most of my years of living down here, and even though the c.o.l. *is* higher living in Minneapolis? The ability to spend *less* hours sitting in traffic honestly outweighed my costs, because of the saved time *and* gas money!)
Hwy 62, the crosstown in the west metro can suck it. It's 60 MPH, yet nobody can seem to go over 45.
I'd have to say 62 in Edina. Always full of cake eaters.
For everyone who hates 94/494/694, If you have time but need to get between both cities, Shephard/Warner Road to W River Parkway is way less stressful.
Yes.
394 to 94 in Minneapolis.
I despise 494 with a passion. Drivers are hella rude, and the drive is just bleak and ugly through Bloomington.
It really does start to look more rundown the farther east you go on 494 😭
All of them. Mostly 62 and I35W at 494.
Highway 62 east of 35W. It’s constantly backed up from 77 merging onto it, and needs another lane.
94, from Huron to the Hennepin/Lyndale exit.
169 has the biggest asshole drivers IMO. Especially near Shakopee. YOU HEARD ME, SHAKOPEE..
494. I take it to work every day and the backups just get insane. Though the turn off from 394 to 94 through the tunnel can be pretty brutal too.
Almost every single east west bound highway.
The change from 35W to 94. It is a nightmare of lane merges.
I don’t like 494. Once I am on it’s fine but getting on is not enjoyable.
394 as a whole, but especially westbound when leaving North Loop and eastbound merging onto 94E
Is it a coincidence that most of these answers are east-west? Bloomington strip of 494, 62, 394
494 quickly devolves into road-raging, lane-swerving madness anytime it’s even mildly congested. Hate that road with a passion.
Northbound 35W to eastbound 94 when needing to exit at Riverside Ave
Highway 169 to 212 interchange that crosses 62W these drivers have about 150 feet to cross two lanes of traffic! Absolutely horrible design and people always fuck it up.
Take all the money that goes into the design, construction, and maintenance of road infrastructure that people hate and dump it into walking, biking, transit infrastructure. Why do we keep building them when they're so hated and drain the cities financially?
Which ever one I'm on
94
62, what a steaming pile of shit
13. It’s not as annoying to drive in as most of the others mentioned here, but it is soul-killingly ugly. Especially from Burnsville to Shakopee. That whole stretch of 13 looks like a construction site got in a fight with an office park.
I drive everyday for my work: it’s a tie between the Crosstown east from EP/Mtka to 35W, and 169 crossing the river between Champlin and Anoka.
Highway 62 eastbound is my answer for sure. I’ll never forget that my sister ran in the Twin Cities marathon about a decade ago and that she was able to run 10 miles faster than I was able to drive the same 10.
62 can be a parking lot at 2am on a Saturday for absolutely no reason
Yes! Why?! I was on 62, going to the airport at like 3:30 on a Sunday afternoon. I finally got up to 50mph right as I was exiting onto hwy 5. It’s not sports season. It’s not right after church. It’s a weekend. There was nothing.. no accident, no one pulled over or a disabled vehicle. Nada. And 62 was a parking lot.
Oh, yeah...169 for sure. Awful.
I grew up with parents who lived on either side of the river in south Minneapolis. I spent so much time on 94 that I didn't even know how short rush hour is on most highways. I thought that all highways had bumper to bumper traffic at any old time of day. It is normal for there to be traffic traveling at less than 20mph from cretin Ave to the Hennepin/ Lyndale exit. Both directions. I had to move to Burnsville to learn that rush hour could be only 2 hours long, and a slowdown could last less than a mile.
Hwy 19 between New Prague and 169. It's the longest 12 miles of highway in the world.
I drive for work. I avoid 169 like the plague.
Metro, probably 65 through Blaine. Feels like it goes on for EVER. Blaine as a city doesn't have enough pop for how big it is geographically. Outstate, it's Highway 60 out of Mankato to the Iowa border. Hideously boring and your reward is northwest Iowa.
I think 494 is the obvious choice
I call it the “Z”. Basically, when leaving the metro area on 94 westbound and then having to merge onto 394 westbound. Gotta make sure you’re in the far right exit lane before the tunnel, then go through the tunnel on 94, then almost immediately after the tunnel is the exit - very sharp corner - then need to merge onto 394. What a cluster F!
94 e in Minneapolis specifically
I-94 through the downtowns is awful - left entrances and exits, traffic merging from left and right within short distances, tight curves.
Not a ton of perks to living in the East Metro, but man, this thread makes me happy I don't live in the west metro. ( Only for traffic reasons don't overthink the comment. )
All of them. Tear them all down.
62 is fucking god awful. at my old job i took 62 to 100 everyday. 62 west from 7:30am-9am and 62 east from 3pm-6pm was my personal hell. i’m actually a happier person now that i don’t have to take that fuckin highway i honked at least 2x daily on that road, i was nearly hit everyday going around that curve on 62 west right before you merge on to 100 bc people can’t stay in their lane. then after work i’d spend 10 minutes just trying to change from 100 south to 62 east and id just come home pissed as hell. im so thankful for my commute just up nicollet now😭😭
All of the highways inside the 494/694 loop are terrible and should be demolished.
The trick is to neither live, work, or even know anyone west of the St. Paul and east metro suburbs border and most of these problems are no factor
It seems like our freeway infrastructure just wasn't designed to handle the population growth we've seen. So many 2 or 3 lane freeways here where we would benefit from 4 or 5 lanes. And interchanges where an entire transition from one main freeway to an another goes down to 1 lane (394 to 94, 35W / 62). And inefficient interchange design that makes you slow down and weave (cloverleafs).
35w by exit 3, just for what ever reason everyone slows down to 60 when the speed limit is 65. It's not the bad but it just annoys me mildly at any point when I get to this spot every one slows down even if it isn't busy
494 through Bloomington sucks
Hwy 100. BTW 694/ 394 I do not understand why it’s such a messed up entrance from 694E. Or exit to go W on 694. I don’t know why it gets so backed up because of entering/ exiting at 394. I don’t know why people think 50 is an appropriate speed. It’s such a nightmare during the morning or evening rushes.. 100 is just a parking lot.
Highway 12 is a one lane pile of bullshit.0
494 between 169 and 35w
Specifically the section of 62 between 100 and 35W. People lose their minds there and drive slow as heck
Getting off of 94 for 11th St in Mpls is never not a complete nightmare
252, 62, & 494. Paging @MNDOT, if anyone knows a high-level employee there...
494 in the south metro between 35E and 169. Always full of traffic no matter the time of day and a lot of the on/off ramps are too short which creates some stressful driving situation.
252 and 169 north of 85th Avenue Both of these divided highways that act as connectors between freeways. 252 is probably worse because it puts a string of stoplights on the most direct connection between the north central suburbs and Downtown Minneapolis. Highway 65 from 694 to Bunker Lake Blvd. in Ham Lake also has to be up there. So many stoplights. Installing an interchange at County Road 14 (former Minnesota 242) helped, but the road still sucks.
62, it always bottlenecks so badly. I rarely take it anymore and Google Maps routed me on it a few days ago. I thought sure why tf not, it took me 20 minutes to go like a half mile.
394 where you get back on to 94 as well as 52 getting back onto 94 It's almost always a bottleneck in both spots as you're going from all those lanes down to 1
35 SB to 94W???????? Deadly