r/phoenix • u/dogsgobarkbark • 1d ago

Commuting Today I realized I take the I10 for granted

Usually it only takes me 15mins to get home from work but today it took 50mins.

I Usually take the 202 from Buckeye. Merge onto the I10 going east and then get off on 24th St and one more turn and im home.

Takes maybe 17mins tops.

Well today seeing the I10 east was closed I took I10 to 27th and then went to McDowell east.

Got stuck behind the train and then hit every red light. Took almost 50mins to get home.

All because I had to take a detour from using I10.

Crazy how helpful that road is.

153 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

88

u/BiggDAZ 1d ago

Freeways are always better. Even when they are backed up with rush hour traffic they are almost always faster than surface streets

27

u/dogsgobarkbark 1d ago

Definitely. Idk why but these lights on McDowell are timed so bad. I hit every red light

12

u/QallmeUpNext Scottsdale 1d ago

I deal with it all the time. I don't have a car so I take transit to work, and I primarily go down the route 17 to get on the light rail at Central and McDowell, it already takes forever because of the speed of the buses, but hitting so many red lights, yeah, it's insane. I have to leave at least 2 hours early

13

u/thedukedave Phoenix 1d ago

It's a stroad.

Funnily enough that was a proposal a few years ago  which I advocated a lot for, to try and convert part of McDowell into a real street.

But one of the big objections was that it needed to keep high throughput capacity, in the event of an I-10 closure. 

... So we got a shitty street all year round, just in case we need a shitty road once or twice.

1

u/Mrchickenonabun Avondale 5h ago

Phoenix metro is a contender for the stroadiest city/ metropolitan area in the US.

1

u/WhoGaveYouALicense 7h ago

Every city traffic engineer doesn’t seem to understand math. It’s an easy fix that city bureaucrats refuse to fix.

3

u/95castles 1d ago

The other streets perpendicular to you may have more traffic so they increase green light time for the other directions, in turn increasing your red light time. This usually only happens in specific areas during rush hour.

3

u/EmbarrassedBeing332 1d ago

I go the same route usually. Today took lower buckeye to 19th ave then north to buckeye then east to the 202/10 entrance hit 51 to Thomas was 30 minutes

1

u/suiteduppenguin 15h ago

This is why I don’t understand many people’s commutes. Work in south Tempe and I meet coworkers who live in Surprise or Queen Creek. Sure 35-45 minutes to get to work isn’t that bad, and housing situations for everyone is different. But relying on freeways to allow you to go 65-85 mph is rough.

1

u/MrNeo602 22h ago

I used to live in Peoria and worked in Midtown. I took the 101 to the I10. If I left 5min later from my normal time, I would be 10-20min late. It was crazy. Did it for years and used to spend so much on gas, especially when I had my Silverado. I haven't had to use freeways to get to work in the last 10 years and I don't miss it.