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SAB Jun 30th, 2005 06:49 PM

Traffic gridlock
 
25 reasons why I vacation in May and September. Below, in descending order, are the 25 summer tourist destinations with the worst traffic bottlenecks, according to a report by AAA, TRIP and the American Highway Users Alliance.

Oregon coast
Tidewater region, Virginia
Maryland/Delaware shore
Lakes and campsites near Branson, Mo.
Outer Banks, North Carolina
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
New Jersey shore
Napa Valley, California
Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish country
Catskill Mountains, New York
Pocono Mountains/Lake Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania
Provo Canyon, Utah
Yosemite National Park, California
Asheville, N.C.
Sun Valley, Idaho
Lake Tahoe area, Nevada
Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
Yellowstone National Park, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana
Presque Isle State Park, Pennsylvania
Acadia National Park, Maine
White Mountains, New Hampshire
Lake George, New York
Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Whitewater region, Idaho
The Hamptons, New York

Patrick Jun 30th, 2005 07:17 PM

I'm confused. Isn't midtown Manhattan considered a major tourist destination? Are they saying that some of those places are worse traffic bottlenecks than midtown Manhattan?

Scarlett Jun 30th, 2005 07:19 PM

I just saw that in my yahoo news.
It was fun to read the list and see how many of these places I have been stuck in traffic in :) and now I am moving to Oregon and I can get stuck in new places LOL
These are the ones on the list that I have been stuck in ((F))
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
New Jersey shore
Napa Valley, California
Pennsylvania Dutch/Amish country
Catskill Mountains, New York
Pocono Mountains Pennsylvania
Asheville, N.C.
Lake Tahoe area, Nevada
Lake George, New York
The Hamptons, New York

LoveItaly Jun 30th, 2005 08:51 PM

Hi dear Fodorites, if BART goes on strike at 12:0lam next Wednesday I truly think you can count on SF and the Bay Area as having the most traffic congestion in the US for the duration of the strike.

Scarlett, I cringed when I saw Portland and west to the coast on the top of the list for traffic problems. Oh well, at least there will be no worry about hurricanes.

jv827 Jun 30th, 2005 10:34 PM

One note - the list excludes urban destinations (which should answer Patrick's question.)

Scarlett Jul 1st, 2005 03:59 AM

Love, I don't care about traffic ~I lived in Manhattan :D and we used to summer in the Hamptons LOL

We are excited about living in a city again where you don't need a car every time you walk out the door ...

mm Jul 1st, 2005 07:38 AM

I posted this list to another string yesterday and the link. The study excluded areas where they could not make a distinction between tourist traffic and regular comuting load. For example: no Orlando.

mm

sunbum1944 Jul 1st, 2005 08:46 AM

I cant believe the Oregon coast is listed as one of the worst - I live in Eugene and I have NEVER had a traffic gridlock problem going to the coast unless there has been a serious car accident.
My daughter lives in Carlsbad Ca and I would say the gridlock problem is way worse in that area - unless you get up early and get to the beach sometimes you cant even find a spot to park there-
never had that problem at the Oregon coast

mm Jul 1st, 2005 08:54 AM

Need to correct myself.

Yesterday, I posted the congession article and link to another group not Fodors.

mm

ncgrrl Jul 1st, 2005 09:54 AM

I also wondered about how they determined 'traffic'. For the past couple of years I've gone to the Outer Banks and haven't had any traffic problems. That's with arrival on Sat. afternoon with everyone, visiting the grocery store Sat. afternoon, and leaving on a Sat. morning. Maybe it's because I'm coming in from 64 and not from the north, but highway 12 is the same for everyone. I'm staying around milemarker 17-18 and not taking the road to Duck after stopping by Wal-Mart, so maybe that's the difference?

I have worse traffic on the drive to work.

I'll give you 'tidewater region' Virginia because of all the draw bridges and truck pull-offs for tunnels. But in reality, that's only Norfolk and I include a lot of the Eastern Shore in my definition of 'tidewater region' and there isn't much traffic on the Eastern Shore.

Fodorite018 Jul 1st, 2005 11:45 AM

I do agree with the report. Trying to get from Portland to the coast on a weekend during the summer can be quite trying. I was laughing really hard this morning as I was driving into Portland, as the radio station was talking about this. They said one had better leave today in the hopes of making it over to the coast by Monday, lol! I think from Portland over is worse than the other routes because tourists fly into Portland, then drive over.

JoyinVirginia Jul 1st, 2005 10:20 PM

For "Tidewater REgion" in Virginia it includes the area I-64 runs thru from Williamsburg/ Jamestown area to Virginia Beach. The biggest bottleneck is the Hampton Roads bridge-tunnel, which can be bypassed by another bridge, but many folks don't have a map or try to plan alternate directions. I live within five miles of the I-295 and I-64 interchange east of Richmond, VA and on Fridays the merging east bound traffic gets backed up, on sundays the WEST bound traffic gets backed up. Heaven help us if there is construction, thank goodness most of that is scheduled at night. Also around the Busch Gardens exit in Williamsburg, it never fails that traffic will back up there on Saturday mornings. don't know why, there are two lanes exiting into the parking lots for BG. I have been thinking about this, I will post some alternate directions to avoid traffic jams in another thread.


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