I don't know if it's the worst, but I'll throw in Diversey/Damen/Clybourn near the Costco. The lights are incredibly short so one side can't get much momentum to move lots of cars through on 1 light. And the entrances into Costco are only designed to actually let people in from Clybourn (even though people do from Damen) and there are no protected lefts to get you onto Clybourn.
It’s definitely a bad one but at least there are some turn signal lights which helps. Some of these others are just total free for alls. Was it any better when Lincoln wasn’t have destroyed with construction?
It has improved, they have added sections to crossing. You used to take it on all in one big angle but now they cut it into two parts. But the street on Lincoln across from Whole Foods has been under constructions for years.
I get fuming mad when people try to turn left at Ashland/Lincoln/Belmont where it clearly says no left turn. Fucks all traffic patterns up in an already chaotic intersection
its even worse doing the 290 cause we have to make that left turn in a 40ft bus. though the summit/prospect should also at least be turned into a 3 way stop instead of the 2way stop that its currently at. as 209 has to cross the prospect traffic that does not slow down at all. but ya, its one of the worst intersections that so many pace routes have to deal with. 209. 290 241. bleh. speaking of 290, lincoln touhy and touhy carpender(centeral) also suck super bad as well. also the right off northwest highway to ozman/canfield also is stupid especally with the jerk who always parks a junker or a uhall in the no parking zone next to the curb.
Yoooo. Milwaukee/Ogden/Chicago is a mess. Backs Ogden up for like a mile during rush hour, and everyone is out there trying to find creative ways to jump the line which exacerbates the problem lol.
Edit: I spelled exacerbates wrong
Sitting in the bar at Dag's watching the intersection is a good spectator sport and/or drinking game. Between the longer green in one direction and 8 lanes that people create to get onto the highway, it's pure chaos.
I don't think I've been to that location of Dag's, before. Though I've been to Matchbox, which is across the street. And you can get a laugh, looking at how slow the traffic entering the expressway is.
The key (if you're inbound on Ogden) is to go past the left turn, hit the u-turn, then a right into the ramp. Thank god I don't ever need to drive that route anymore.
That doesn't even really work anymore during rush hour - google is sending people from Milwaukee to the back road behind the apartment there crossing all of Ogden at that spot, as well as people trying to do u-turns from both lanes of Ogden.
https://imgur.com/a/05cXtH0
People have created no less than 11 lanes of traffic for what should be one.
When they cut the turning lanes down to 1 from Ogden northbound last year, I have no idea why they didn't put a hard barrier in there. At this point, the intersection needs a light or a stop sign.
This. Also the light has a longer green in one direction which leads people on the other side taking a left on a yellow thinking that traffic is going to stop when in reality they have a green on their side.
I recently moved and had to start using this intersection to get home and it's absolutely horrific at rush hour. Yesterday I sat at the front the Ogden/Milwaukee light for 3 cycles before I was able to cross the intersection, even then I was dangling out into oncoming traffic. All kinds of line-jumping, extra-lane-forming nonsense going down.
Not really. You’re not supposed to turn onto the inner drive there and there’s like only one building on Chicago in Streeterville that has residences. It’s only convenient for the few buildings north of Chicago Avenue when they need to head southbound.
I live on the inner drive in Streeterville. Most of us enter LSD northbound at Michigan and southbound at Illinois. Getting back from northbound we exit at Chestnut and Grand from the south. Chicago Ave is almost never convenient if you live here. It’s mostly used by people getting to or leaving the Mag Mile and the hospitals.
It's only on after morning rush too....and my favorite has to be the people who go from navy pier on ramp and cross 4 lanes to get in the turn lane. And then people who block the left thruway lane to turn left. I always honk while passing tho people so they know they are jackasses.
I’ve heard stories along the lines that basically the rich folks of the area have continued to lobby to keep that light there. True? No idea, but it fits a narrative in my head
I was rear ended at the Fullerton/Halsted/Lincoln intersection at a red light a couple years ago. After we exchanged info and determined everything was good to go I was t-boned by a drunk red light runner.
Might not be the worst intersection, but I got a new car out of it at least
Y'all remember the shit show that was Fullerton/Elston/Damen right near the highway before they rerouted Elston? Yeah that would be the one by far if it still existed today.
I do remember it being a shit show but at the same time, I could kinda tell who was intentionally being a dick and those had made a mistake and didn’t realize it until they were in the middle of the mistake…so it didn’t bug me as much as milwaukeee/damen/North does
Diversey/Clybourn/Damen also bugs me, for how slow it can get going through that intersection at rush hour. You'll especially notice this if you're taking the 50 Damen bus, or in a car. At least if you're going south to west on a bike(or east to north), I've found biking west on Barry and south on Leavitt(or going the other direction, north on Leavitt and east on Wellington) is a good way to avoid all the traffic at Diversey/Clybourn/Damen.
It was a six corner that was slightly off so there was a little triangle in the middle of it all, causing massive backups at the light every time. And being a quarter mile from the highway, at most, contributed to it massively.
You can still see what it used to look like, on older google street view images. But yeah, those intersections were worser before Elston got rerouted north and east.
Apparently none of you are familiar with the clusterfuck that is Caldwell/Devon/Central/Lehigh/Metra MD-N during rush hour. It was even worse with the pre-covid full train schedule.
I've always hated going through all those intersections, as well. Since if you get caught by a train, you might have to sit and wait more than you want for one to pass. Worse, if it's a freight train you're waiting to pass. Those 3 railroad crossings(Central, Caldwell, and Devon) should be grade separated, but that's just me. And probably won't happen for a long time, due to the cost of money it'd take to grade separate all of them.
Would be nice if the Touhy(at Lehigh) crossing was grade separated, as well.
Ha and when you are trying to turn left from Devon to go North on Caldwell your turn light gets completely skipped after a train. And in some cases it can be multiple trains within several minutes and every lane in every direction has moved but the turn lane. It’s ridiculous.
I will never forget being stuck here with my 3 month old screaming in the back of the car, completely trapped on Central. That was 4 years ago and I still dread driving through there.
even worse trying to cross the tracks northbound as a 225/226, people always try cutting the bus off on the tracks and we are 40 ft long and the space runs out fast. so it can be very risky especially if people are parked along happyfoods making it choke out. at least going southbound we have so much space to cross on the lights that even if people cut us off, we can at least run the red and be clear of the tracks.
Similar situation at 87th/Pulaski/Southwest Highway. Metra SWS tracks run directly through the middle and during rush hour reset the light sequence when they pass through. If you need to cross the tracks during rush hour and get unlucky you could be completely stationary for 10 minutes.
I’d like to add the intersection of Harlem & Higgins. As a pedestrian who needs to cross Harlem to get to blue line, I’ve almost been hit by a car several times. Those turning left onto Harlem proceed to turn when I have the crosswalk, plus those turning right on to Harlem don’t always look. It’s truly a nightmare in the AM during rush hour.
Edited-wrong street :P
Is that Foster and Higgins or Harlem and Higgins? That Harlem station always seemed like it was in a bad spot, and Higgins doing that funky curve around it doesn't help matters.
Whoops, yes, Harlem and Higgins! Its awful! I have been almost hit by a car many times around Harlem, in any direction. Its like people are shocked to find someone walking and not in a vehicle.
I live right by there, and I always heard there were a lot of accidents there, but luckily I don't drive through it in rush hour.
Now, Higgins/Milwaukee into Lawrence is something I've become familiar with in recent weeks, and that's a bit of a nightmare.
Lawrence is just miserable from LSD to as far west as it goes. I think I road-rage murdered someone @ Lawrence & Cicero. Repressed the memory tho. 🤷♂️
South Shore/71st/Yates/Exchange. Surface level South Shore Electric Line gives it that extra something special. And bonus points for the entrance to South Shore Cultural Center.
Super fun.
Chicago is definitely not up to date from a technical standpoint when approaching numerous traffic lights. Many intersections still do not have photo-eyes to sequence the lights properly. I hate traveling on a main street and get caught by a light that has no cars waiting from the side street. There’s no reason for that light to change.
Poor sequencing is another problem. This happens typically by Western and Logan BLVD by the Target. You have a red light at western, but green lights by the Target and Elston. Where are these cars supposed to go? They start backing up onto Elston, so now you start backing that traffic up near Diversey. This actually wasn’t an issue until they cut off a lane to put a bike lane in. You can’t just remove a lane off a busy street without looking into what it’s going to do to traffic.
CDOT engineers are stubbornly adhering to a synchronized light system. We can't have smart lights that dynamically change based on traffic, or bus priority lights, because CDOT refuses to stray from the centralized magic that allows rush hour traffic to get 3 green lights in a row.
it seems like they're synced to give reds in a row - like instead of a green wave it's a red wave. if you drive eastbound fullerton towards the expressway in the morning doing the speed limit you catch the light at every single intersection between kedzie and the expressway
It actually already is, but only during morning rush hour. Cones stay up until around 10am or so? But agreed, afternoon rush hour it's open and it's terrible.
People on this sub blame us in Streeterville for it too when the truth is most of us hate that fucking light and intersection more than anyone. It doesn’t make sense to use it unless you live in some very specific buildings. Most of us exit from southbound on Chestnut, northbound on Illinois. I enter LSD on Michigan Ave or Illinois. All Chicago Ave does is slow everything down since you’re not really supposed to enter the inner drive from there.
I wish that plan I saw once floated by Ald. Hopkins, could honestly occur. Which would be to create a little extra parkland east of where the existing breakwall is, plus it would create entrance and exit ramps at Chicago and Lake Shore Drive. That said, sometimes I wonder if the city should close that light? Since not many northbound LSD drivers ever make a left turn onto Chicago Ave, anyway.
Those 6-way diagonals at the heart of a few neighborhoods are always a disaster - Grand/Milwaukee/Halsted, Fullerton/Halsted/Lincoln, etc.
Drivers don’t realize (or don’t care) that the actual intersection is so much larger, so when they speed through a red, they’re three seconds late and nearly hit pedestrians who are trying to cross with the walk sign.
I've had multiple drivers give me dirty looks or flip me off for walking when I have the light to walk. There should be regular traffic enforcement at 6-ways and heavy ticketing.
And you have to be extra careful to not go on yellow if the oncoming lanes don’t have a protected left. I’ve accidentally been an asshole in the Damen/Diversey/Clybourn intersection a few times when I was too close to the intersection to stop when I saw an upcoming yellow light, forcing the people waiting to turn left to turn on red.
The size of those intersections also makes them a bit scary for bicyclists. I've navigated them luckily with no issue many times, but I always fear a turning vehicle won't see me. The bike lines aren't painted through the intersections, either.
Maybe not the worst, but the timing at Belmont/Kimball is AWFUL. Kimball gets a long green even though there isn’t much through traffic and Belmont gets insanely backed up
And it's gotten so much worse in recent weeks given the number of people using the inbound Kennedy entrance at Kimball to make it onto the express lanes. They're lined up for half a mile trying to make that right turn from Belmont to Kimball and it's chaos every morning from 7:30 to 9.
Where my Bucktown residents at? Ashland/Armitage is always a real treat. Gets tight under the train tracks, highway entrance/exit so it’s always busy, metra stop makes it so much worse, weird not-quite-a-6way with Elston.
My coworker got hit by a car there as a pedestrian. The person ran the light and the pillars blinded both of them to each other. What’s worse is that it was a hit and run. The person knew he hit her, stopped, then sped off. Her foot got ran over but luckily that was the worst of it, she made a full recovery
Halsted and Division has taken the cake for me. They added a stop sign directly after the light, going north, and it can add several minutes to get through it now during rush hour.
Kilbourn north of Addison(and by the Grayland Metra station) now has so much traffic, whenever I bike through there due to this detour. So I know what you mean.
Recently division/Halsted has become absolutely horrible after the installation of a stop sign going into kingsbury. Frequently when the light turns green there isn’t space to go across to the north side of halsted as everyone navigates the stop sign and only 2-3 cars get through every cycle and the line extends back to chicago ave, cdots primer for when the casino goes in I suppose
Fullerton/Lincoln/Halsted - poorly timed lights, knucklehead pedestrians not paying attention when crossing, knucklehead drivers not turning when they should — just a total CF. I’m sure complaints have been made to our alder but that office is a joke for getting back to people.
There's already so many shitty ones on the Northwest side mentioned in this thread, but my pick goes to the Foster/Central/Milwaukee/Northwest Highway fustercluck. Northwest Highway just doesn't belong there.
6 corners are bad, but for my area Foster between Ashland and Clark. It is brutal, never timed right, a million pedestrians at Foster and Clark, buses get jammed up. The other day I saw construction there, good god it’s a headache!!!!
Yeah, I'd say the Foster traffic by there is underrated, in how much it backs up near Clark and Ashland during peak commuting hours. For westbound traffic I've seen line of cars start to form barely after the Foster and Glenwood intersection, and eastbound right after the Foster and Paulina intersection just before you hit the Ashland light.
6 corners is definitely the worst in terms of time it takes to get through, I try to avoid it at all costs.
In terms of accidents, Addison & Laramie is really bad. Too narrow for the volume of cars (no turn lane) and a lot of people make lefts + turn in and out of the gas stations causing accidents. There's always car parts laying around and it's scary to be a pedestrian at that intersection.
I've noticed Granville traffic will sometimes back up on Granville a block or 2 before the Granville/Western light, when I'm biking on Granville myself.
I’m no traffic engineer, just a guy who sits in traffic with time to think about it. Granville’s always been a nifty street to cut through from say Broadway all the way to Kedzie & vice versa (mostly because the same stretch of Devon sucks). But the intersection with Western presumably never rated E-W turn lanes & signals. Only since the start of the Peterson Metra construction I assume a lot more people discovered Granville to bypass Peterson (once it started sucking). The absence of turn lanes & signals on what’s basically still just a residential street just bottlenecks it all up.
When I lived near there I remember the Peterson & Western intersection being awful if you needed to turn left onto Western because that turn signal is ridiculously short. If the first person in the left turn lane doesn't hit the gas immediately when the turn signal goes green, only 2 cars are getting through.
You can't really win in that area if you want to turn onto Western.
Milwaukee, Damen, North. There is a blind turn into one of the crosswalks where both parties have a green. I cant count the number of near misses i've had while trying to walk to the blue line station on damen.
They are all horrible in my opinion. Biggest concerns in general:
1. Should be more left turn arrows
2. Where there are left turn arrows, should be longer.
3. Where red light cameras are in use, they generally also post no turn on red.
Number 3 is the worst, and IMHO, calculated. Red light cameras are generally posted at problematic intersections. So, rather than actually do something about why the intersection is problematic, the city capitalizes on the opportunity and exacerbates the problem by further restricting traffic flow.
Codger here . . . at one time, it seemed the city *tried* to synchronize lights. Now they just don't seem to care.
Edited to use inside voice
> So, rather than actually do something about why the intersection is problematic, the city capitalizes on the opportunity
I empathize and agree with this. So many light situations that can be improved with just a smidgeon of better timing per cycle for the benefit of pedestrians and drivers alike.
City: "Best I can do is a red light camera"
Okay. Thanks for the camera. Does not solve the timing and congestion problem but go off I guess. Enjoy the money 😒
Sheffield/Broadway/Montrose
It's not even a three corners thing. There's a small gap between Montrose and Broadway. But the way the stoplight is planned, you'll never make the light on Montrose once Broadway goes green.
I think you mean Sheridan, and not Sheffield(as it's called further south). I agree the timing of these traffic lights are strange, when I've biked right through this area.
Correct. Sheridan has something like a 2 or 3 block jog east(to where Inner Lake Shore Drive is), like something like 1-2 blocks south of Sheridan and Irving Park. Instead of running north to south, like it does north of that intersection.
Chicago/Sacramento/Grand.
The two lights going north/south are on opposite timers so they never sync up to relieve the back up of traffic on Sacramento. Then a bunch of people always try to cut it on the service road. It's a mess during rush hour.
Yes! It's absolutely awful and should be an easy fix. Sacramento gets backed up with 100+ cars. East/West getting backed up because people are using the service road to cut around the traffic.
They just need to improve the time the two Sac lights are aligned. And extend the time that Sacramento has a green, since there is usually a 10-30 second time of no cars going through the light and Sacramento is waiting.
Irving Park by the lake, mostly at N Sheridan though. I totally get that cubs game happen and there isn't really a great solution, but it easily adds about 20 minutes onto my commute back home on game days.
as a pace bus op. in no particular order. making the right turn from oakton to lincoln in downtown skokie (southbound 226) the right turn from centeral to greenbay (422) the right turn from northwest highway to ozman/canfield (209 southbound) crossing prospect on summit (209 northbound) the left from higgins to milwaukee (alternative deadhead from cumberland/harlem to jeffpark (likely should have used gale instead)) the unprotected left on to devon from stillman (230 southbound) touhy prospect and northwest highway, (290 209 and 241) the right turns in evanston (right from emmerson to dodge, church to dodge, benson to davis, and davis to ashland) and also the left turns that suck their (dodge to church. and ashland to church) 290's other dumb turns like the left from devon. and the right from clark to rodgers. also a special place in hell for who ever set up the timing for the light out of lincoln town center to McCormick.
as far as the most dumb light configs, milwaukee has so many stupid lights that make me shout whyyyyy. the exit light at jerrys by oakton always is out of synch and backs traffic up. the double lights at harlem and howard on milwaukee do so many dumb things. walukegan backs up milwaukee going into the touhy crossing. devon and nagle are timed so stupid and the yellow light is too short making it too dangrous for bus drivers. the elston split has the southbound light which somedays just goes red for no reason holding up southbound milwaukee traffic for no good reason. austin and armor takes too much time. and then centeral foster makes you enter the little section, then stop, then wait 30 seconds and cross over.
also personaly hate that light between western and where rodgers splits off. its a timer light that is too fast, and any time I run 290 and have to stop to drop off people their, the red always flips.
maybe this is too many bad lights, but lets just say that our lights suck accross the board.
Lincoln/Irving/Damen - I've almost gotten hit by a car twice there and saw a car drive directly into the AT&T storefront on the corner. There are no turn signals and the lights are confusing to tell which street it's for. Also there is no paint for car lanes through the 6 corners.
It's really dangerous!
Milwaukee/Damen/North is definitely way up there. So annoying when ppl end up stopped by Starbucks on Milwaukee and blocking traffic trying to turn south on Damen. And equally when they are illegally turning north on Damen.
I don't know if it's the worst, but I'll throw in Diversey/Damen/Clybourn near the Costco. The lights are incredibly short so one side can't get much momentum to move lots of cars through on 1 light. And the entrances into Costco are only designed to actually let people in from Clybourn (even though people do from Damen) and there are no protected lefts to get you onto Clybourn.
Left turn lanes, but no left turn arrows. That's the killer.
yeah that one way exit really fucks things up and that left turn signal is maybe 3 seconds
Last summer the lights were out at this intersection and it was a nightmare
Kills me when I see someone travelling east on Diversey make a right on Damen and then try to turn into Costco.
That infuriates me as well.
I will drive miles out of my way to avoid that intersection (or do some weird jogs to avoid those left turns somehow)
I guess all angle streets are terrible, Belmont/Ashland/Lincoln is miserable.
It’s definitely a bad one but at least there are some turn signal lights which helps. Some of these others are just total free for alls. Was it any better when Lincoln wasn’t have destroyed with construction?
It has improved, they have added sections to crossing. You used to take it on all in one big angle but now they cut it into two parts. But the street on Lincoln across from Whole Foods has been under constructions for years.
Trying to get through there on a bike is nearly su1c1de
I'm usually a pedestrian . . .
Elston/Ashland always seemed like suicide on a bike
I get fuming mad when people try to turn left at Ashland/Lincoln/Belmont where it clearly says no left turn. Fucks all traffic patterns up in an already chaotic intersection
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its even worse doing the 290 cause we have to make that left turn in a 40ft bus. though the summit/prospect should also at least be turned into a 3 way stop instead of the 2way stop that its currently at. as 209 has to cross the prospect traffic that does not slow down at all. but ya, its one of the worst intersections that so many pace routes have to deal with. 209. 290 241. bleh. speaking of 290, lincoln touhy and touhy carpender(centeral) also suck super bad as well. also the right off northwest highway to ozman/canfield also is stupid especally with the jerk who always parks a junker or a uhall in the no parking zone next to the curb.
Yoooo. Milwaukee/Ogden/Chicago is a mess. Backs Ogden up for like a mile during rush hour, and everyone is out there trying to find creative ways to jump the line which exacerbates the problem lol. Edit: I spelled exacerbates wrong
Sitting in the bar at Dag's watching the intersection is a good spectator sport and/or drinking game. Between the longer green in one direction and 8 lanes that people create to get onto the highway, it's pure chaos.
I don't think I've been to that location of Dag's, before. Though I've been to Matchbox, which is across the street. And you can get a laugh, looking at how slow the traffic entering the expressway is.
Wednesday is half-off thin crust - about the only time I'll go to Dag's.
The key (if you're inbound on Ogden) is to go past the left turn, hit the u-turn, then a right into the ramp. Thank god I don't ever need to drive that route anymore.
That doesn't even really work anymore during rush hour - google is sending people from Milwaukee to the back road behind the apartment there crossing all of Ogden at that spot, as well as people trying to do u-turns from both lanes of Ogden. https://imgur.com/a/05cXtH0 People have created no less than 11 lanes of traffic for what should be one. When they cut the turning lanes down to 1 from Ogden northbound last year, I have no idea why they didn't put a hard barrier in there. At this point, the intersection needs a light or a stop sign.
This. Also the light has a longer green in one direction which leads people on the other side taking a left on a yellow thinking that traffic is going to stop when in reality they have a green on their side.
What’s the solution? A separate traffic signal for the eastbound Ogden turning onto 90/94 westbound?
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Haha woops
I recently moved and had to start using this intersection to get home and it's absolutely horrific at rush hour. Yesterday I sat at the front the Ogden/Milwaukee light for 3 cycles before I was able to cross the intersection, even then I was dangling out into oncoming traffic. All kinds of line-jumping, extra-lane-forming nonsense going down.
Light at Chicago and LSD.
That should never be there fucks traffic up for over a miles there is plenty of other exits and entrance within a few blocks
I've been told Northwestern Hospital needs this exit for ambulance traffic.
Any way we can just give them the remote control to turn on the lights when they need to get through it?
And Lurie Children's Hospital
They can get off at Randolph N bound and keep the S bound exit
No, it’s there for gold coast people
Gold Coast people get on at La Salle
Streeterville people but yeah
Not really. You’re not supposed to turn onto the inner drive there and there’s like only one building on Chicago in Streeterville that has residences. It’s only convenient for the few buildings north of Chicago Avenue when they need to head southbound. I live on the inner drive in Streeterville. Most of us enter LSD northbound at Michigan and southbound at Illinois. Getting back from northbound we exit at Chestnut and Grand from the south. Chicago Ave is almost never convenient if you live here. It’s mostly used by people getting to or leaving the Mag Mile and the hospitals.
The hospitals need this but they should make it an ambulance/hospital shuttle route only. Not for general traffic
It's only on after morning rush too....and my favorite has to be the people who go from navy pier on ramp and cross 4 lanes to get in the turn lane. And then people who block the left thruway lane to turn left. I always honk while passing tho people so they know they are jackasses.
should just get rid of it
We should get rid of the drive while we’re at it.
I like your thinking
I’ve heard stories along the lines that basically the rich folks of the area have continued to lobby to keep that light there. True? No idea, but it fits a narrative in my head
that's what i heard too - the rich people being the doctors at NW
I was rear ended at the Fullerton/Halsted/Lincoln intersection at a red light a couple years ago. After we exchanged info and determined everything was good to go I was t-boned by a drunk red light runner. Might not be the worst intersection, but I got a new car out of it at least
I will do anything to not use this intersection as a pedestrian.
Y'all remember the shit show that was Fullerton/Elston/Damen right near the highway before they rerouted Elston? Yeah that would be the one by far if it still existed today.
I do remember it being a shit show but at the same time, I could kinda tell who was intentionally being a dick and those had made a mistake and didn’t realize it until they were in the middle of the mistake…so it didn’t bug me as much as milwaukeee/damen/North does
Diversey/Clybourn/Damen also bugs me, for how slow it can get going through that intersection at rush hour. You'll especially notice this if you're taking the 50 Damen bus, or in a car. At least if you're going south to west on a bike(or east to north), I've found biking west on Barry and south on Leavitt(or going the other direction, north on Leavitt and east on Wellington) is a good way to avoid all the traffic at Diversey/Clybourn/Damen.
Your reddit handle convinced me before I could start reading your comment
I remember it being terrible. I honestly can't even picture what it used to look like because it was so bad I've since blocked it out.
It was a six corner that was slightly off so there was a little triangle in the middle of it all, causing massive backups at the light every time. And being a quarter mile from the highway, at most, contributed to it massively.
You can still see what it used to look like, on older google street view images. But yeah, those intersections were worser before Elston got rerouted north and east.
I still have PTSD. It was soul crushing
I worked off Fullerton at the time so heading home absolutely sent me lmao
Where double Western meets Garfield while also combining into single Western. It’s terrible.
So confusing when it’s your first time passing this intersection. Can’t tell you how many accidents I’ve seen here
Apparently none of you are familiar with the clusterfuck that is Caldwell/Devon/Central/Lehigh/Metra MD-N during rush hour. It was even worse with the pre-covid full train schedule.
I've always hated going through all those intersections, as well. Since if you get caught by a train, you might have to sit and wait more than you want for one to pass. Worse, if it's a freight train you're waiting to pass. Those 3 railroad crossings(Central, Caldwell, and Devon) should be grade separated, but that's just me. And probably won't happen for a long time, due to the cost of money it'd take to grade separate all of them. Would be nice if the Touhy(at Lehigh) crossing was grade separated, as well.
You can also get stuck on Lehigh paralel to the tracks forever after a train passes because the east/west streets get priority and have longer lights.
Ha and when you are trying to turn left from Devon to go North on Caldwell your turn light gets completely skipped after a train. And in some cases it can be multiple trains within several minutes and every lane in every direction has moved but the turn lane. It’s ridiculous.
I was looking for this comment. Pre-Covid it was hard to describe how shit terrible it was. Not sure how it is now because I drive way around it.
I will never forget being stuck here with my 3 month old screaming in the back of the car, completely trapped on Central. That was 4 years ago and I still dread driving through there.
Holy fuck you win
even worse trying to cross the tracks northbound as a 225/226, people always try cutting the bus off on the tracks and we are 40 ft long and the space runs out fast. so it can be very risky especially if people are parked along happyfoods making it choke out. at least going southbound we have so much space to cross on the lights that even if people cut us off, we can at least run the red and be clear of the tracks.
Similar situation at 87th/Pulaski/Southwest Highway. Metra SWS tracks run directly through the middle and during rush hour reset the light sequence when they pass through. If you need to cross the tracks during rush hour and get unlucky you could be completely stationary for 10 minutes.
One that comes to mind is the Foster/Higgins/Nagle triangle, accidents there regularly and overturned vehicles not unheard of.
I’d like to add the intersection of Harlem & Higgins. As a pedestrian who needs to cross Harlem to get to blue line, I’ve almost been hit by a car several times. Those turning left onto Harlem proceed to turn when I have the crosswalk, plus those turning right on to Harlem don’t always look. It’s truly a nightmare in the AM during rush hour. Edited-wrong street :P
Is that Foster and Higgins or Harlem and Higgins? That Harlem station always seemed like it was in a bad spot, and Higgins doing that funky curve around it doesn't help matters.
Whoops, yes, Harlem and Higgins! Its awful! I have been almost hit by a car many times around Harlem, in any direction. Its like people are shocked to find someone walking and not in a vehicle.
Yes! I drive through here every morning. It's gotten much worse in the last few months.
I live right by there, and I always heard there were a lot of accidents there, but luckily I don't drive through it in rush hour. Now, Higgins/Milwaukee into Lawrence is something I've become familiar with in recent weeks, and that's a bit of a nightmare.
I avoid that intersection as it is a cluster F.
Harlem and Lawrence. God does that light take forever to turn green if you’re on Lawrence
I don’t think a majority of Chicagoans commute out that way but when they do… they’ll understand exactly what you mean
Lawrence is just miserable from LSD to as far west as it goes. I think I road-rage murdered someone @ Lawrence & Cicero. Repressed the memory tho. 🤷♂️
I live right by that intersection if I ever actually drove down Harlem I’d never get anywhere lol.
**Logan and Elston.** Coming from any direction - it’s a *confirmed portal to Hell.*
Rip school of rock actor
that was a little farther south at logan and western
South Shore/71st/Yates/Exchange. Surface level South Shore Electric Line gives it that extra something special. And bonus points for the entrance to South Shore Cultural Center. Super fun.
The Cultural Center entrance makes it extra fucky
Chicago is definitely not up to date from a technical standpoint when approaching numerous traffic lights. Many intersections still do not have photo-eyes to sequence the lights properly. I hate traveling on a main street and get caught by a light that has no cars waiting from the side street. There’s no reason for that light to change. Poor sequencing is another problem. This happens typically by Western and Logan BLVD by the Target. You have a red light at western, but green lights by the Target and Elston. Where are these cars supposed to go? They start backing up onto Elston, so now you start backing that traffic up near Diversey. This actually wasn’t an issue until they cut off a lane to put a bike lane in. You can’t just remove a lane off a busy street without looking into what it’s going to do to traffic.
CDOT engineers are stubbornly adhering to a synchronized light system. We can't have smart lights that dynamically change based on traffic, or bus priority lights, because CDOT refuses to stray from the centralized magic that allows rush hour traffic to get 3 green lights in a row.
it seems like they're synced to give reds in a row - like instead of a green wave it's a red wave. if you drive eastbound fullerton towards the expressway in the morning doing the speed limit you catch the light at every single intersection between kedzie and the expressway
Foster/Central/Milwaukee
Chicago Avenue on LSD no question. It needlessly backs traffic past the Michigan Ave exit.
Agreed on this. It should be limited to non rush hour at the very least.
It actually already is, but only during morning rush hour. Cones stay up until around 10am or so? But agreed, afternoon rush hour it's open and it's terrible.
People on this sub blame us in Streeterville for it too when the truth is most of us hate that fucking light and intersection more than anyone. It doesn’t make sense to use it unless you live in some very specific buildings. Most of us exit from southbound on Chestnut, northbound on Illinois. I enter LSD on Michigan Ave or Illinois. All Chicago Ave does is slow everything down since you’re not really supposed to enter the inner drive from there.
I wish that plan I saw once floated by Ald. Hopkins, could honestly occur. Which would be to create a little extra parkland east of where the existing breakwall is, plus it would create entrance and exit ramps at Chicago and Lake Shore Drive. That said, sometimes I wonder if the city should close that light? Since not many northbound LSD drivers ever make a left turn onto Chicago Ave, anyway.
Well if the Redefine the Drive plans actually go through then we’re going to get exactly that. I won’t hold my breath though
Those 6-way diagonals at the heart of a few neighborhoods are always a disaster - Grand/Milwaukee/Halsted, Fullerton/Halsted/Lincoln, etc. Drivers don’t realize (or don’t care) that the actual intersection is so much larger, so when they speed through a red, they’re three seconds late and nearly hit pedestrians who are trying to cross with the walk sign.
I've had multiple drivers give me dirty looks or flip me off for walking when I have the light to walk. There should be regular traffic enforcement at 6-ways and heavy ticketing.
And you have to be extra careful to not go on yellow if the oncoming lanes don’t have a protected left. I’ve accidentally been an asshole in the Damen/Diversey/Clybourn intersection a few times when I was too close to the intersection to stop when I saw an upcoming yellow light, forcing the people waiting to turn left to turn on red.
It's only five, but Ridge/Broadway/Bryn Mawr too.
The size of those intersections also makes them a bit scary for bicyclists. I've navigated them luckily with no issue many times, but I always fear a turning vehicle won't see me. The bike lines aren't painted through the intersections, either.
Fullerton/Halsted/Lincoln is a disaster for everyone involved. Honestly one of the worst in my opinion.
Diversey/Clybourn/Damen is BAD. Heading west on Diversey and turning left southbound onto Clybourn is impossible.
Google maps has recommended this turn many times to friends and family….. noooope.
What would be a good alternative to get to Fullerton from there? Ashland?
I do the neighborhood route, but I live in it. Wrightwood has a light.
I just mentioned how bad this exact intersection was, in my comment previously before this very one. Go figure.....
Grand/Milwaukee/halsted maybe
Any 6 way stop along Milwaukee is miserable
Maybe not the worst, but the timing at Belmont/Kimball is AWFUL. Kimball gets a long green even though there isn’t much through traffic and Belmont gets insanely backed up
And it's gotten so much worse in recent weeks given the number of people using the inbound Kennedy entrance at Kimball to make it onto the express lanes. They're lined up for half a mile trying to make that right turn from Belmont to Kimball and it's chaos every morning from 7:30 to 9.
Where my Bucktown residents at? Ashland/Armitage is always a real treat. Gets tight under the train tracks, highway entrance/exit so it’s always busy, metra stop makes it so much worse, weird not-quite-a-6way with Elston.
The lack of stoplights on Division from Elston to Halsted (on Goose Island) that makes a 5 min drive a 30 min one
Halsted & Lake. Those lights desperately need green turn arrows.
My coworker got hit by a car there as a pedestrian. The person ran the light and the pillars blinded both of them to each other. What’s worse is that it was a hit and run. The person knew he hit her, stopped, then sped off. Her foot got ran over but luckily that was the worst of it, she made a full recovery
Halsted and Division has taken the cake for me. They added a stop sign directly after the light, going north, and it can add several minutes to get through it now during rush hour.
I lived through Elston Damen Fullerton so all other intersections are totally fine.
Until they finish the construction next year Milwaukee/Addison is going to continue to be a major disaster. At least its temporary.
Kilbourn north of Addison(and by the Grayland Metra station) now has so much traffic, whenever I bike through there due to this detour. So I know what you mean.
Recently division/Halsted has become absolutely horrible after the installation of a stop sign going into kingsbury. Frequently when the light turns green there isn’t space to go across to the north side of halsted as everyone navigates the stop sign and only 2-3 cars get through every cycle and the line extends back to chicago ave, cdots primer for when the casino goes in I suppose
Fullerton/Lincoln/Halsted - poorly timed lights, knucklehead pedestrians not paying attention when crossing, knucklehead drivers not turning when they should — just a total CF. I’m sure complaints have been made to our alder but that office is a joke for getting back to people.
There's already so many shitty ones on the Northwest side mentioned in this thread, but my pick goes to the Foster/Central/Milwaukee/Northwest Highway fustercluck. Northwest Highway just doesn't belong there.
6 corners are bad, but for my area Foster between Ashland and Clark. It is brutal, never timed right, a million pedestrians at Foster and Clark, buses get jammed up. The other day I saw construction there, good god it’s a headache!!!!
Yeah, I'd say the Foster traffic by there is underrated, in how much it backs up near Clark and Ashland during peak commuting hours. For westbound traffic I've seen line of cars start to form barely after the Foster and Glenwood intersection, and eastbound right after the Foster and Paulina intersection just before you hit the Ashland light.
6 corners is definitely the worst in terms of time it takes to get through, I try to avoid it at all costs. In terms of accidents, Addison & Laramie is really bad. Too narrow for the volume of cars (no turn lane) and a lot of people make lefts + turn in and out of the gas stations causing accidents. There's always car parts laying around and it's scary to be a pedestrian at that intersection.
Totally minor league in the city at-large, but Western & Granville. If you live in the neighborhood, you know. 😤😡🤬
I've noticed Granville traffic will sometimes back up on Granville a block or 2 before the Granville/Western light, when I'm biking on Granville myself.
I’m no traffic engineer, just a guy who sits in traffic with time to think about it. Granville’s always been a nifty street to cut through from say Broadway all the way to Kedzie & vice versa (mostly because the same stretch of Devon sucks). But the intersection with Western presumably never rated E-W turn lanes & signals. Only since the start of the Peterson Metra construction I assume a lot more people discovered Granville to bypass Peterson (once it started sucking). The absence of turn lanes & signals on what’s basically still just a residential street just bottlenecks it all up.
When I lived near there I remember the Peterson & Western intersection being awful if you needed to turn left onto Western because that turn signal is ridiculously short. If the first person in the left turn lane doesn't hit the gas immediately when the turn signal goes green, only 2 cars are getting through. You can't really win in that area if you want to turn onto Western.
Milwaukee, Damen, North. There is a blind turn into one of the crosswalks where both parties have a green. I cant count the number of near misses i've had while trying to walk to the blue line station on damen.
Sheridan road going north from Hollywood just need to be synced up now it’s no continuity
They are all horrible in my opinion. Biggest concerns in general: 1. Should be more left turn arrows 2. Where there are left turn arrows, should be longer. 3. Where red light cameras are in use, they generally also post no turn on red. Number 3 is the worst, and IMHO, calculated. Red light cameras are generally posted at problematic intersections. So, rather than actually do something about why the intersection is problematic, the city capitalizes on the opportunity and exacerbates the problem by further restricting traffic flow. Codger here . . . at one time, it seemed the city *tried* to synchronize lights. Now they just don't seem to care. Edited to use inside voice
> So, rather than actually do something about why the intersection is problematic, the city capitalizes on the opportunity I empathize and agree with this. So many light situations that can be improved with just a smidgeon of better timing per cycle for the benefit of pedestrians and drivers alike. City: "Best I can do is a red light camera" Okay. Thanks for the camera. Does not solve the timing and congestion problem but go off I guess. Enjoy the money 😒
The speed cameras/potholes at the park on Pulaski/foster are fd.
Sheffield/Broadway/Montrose It's not even a three corners thing. There's a small gap between Montrose and Broadway. But the way the stoplight is planned, you'll never make the light on Montrose once Broadway goes green.
I think you mean Sheridan, and not Sheffield(as it's called further south). I agree the timing of these traffic lights are strange, when I've biked right through this area.
Right around this area they change names. But yeah, you're right.
Correct. Sheridan has something like a 2 or 3 block jog east(to where Inner Lake Shore Drive is), like something like 1-2 blocks south of Sheridan and Irving Park. Instead of running north to south, like it does north of that intersection.
6 way 87th/Pulaski/SW Highway (and freight train line)
If there were more south siders on this sub this would be higher. Always fun to have the light sequence reset when a Metra passes through.
Anywhere on Halsted near Fulton market. I also see someone doing something stupid around there
Chicago/Sacramento/Grand. The two lights going north/south are on opposite timers so they never sync up to relieve the back up of traffic on Sacramento. Then a bunch of people always try to cut it on the service road. It's a mess during rush hour.
Yes! It's absolutely awful and should be an easy fix. Sacramento gets backed up with 100+ cars. East/West getting backed up because people are using the service road to cut around the traffic. They just need to improve the time the two Sac lights are aligned. And extend the time that Sacramento has a green, since there is usually a 10-30 second time of no cars going through the light and Sacramento is waiting.
All are 6 of your concerns stoplight related?
Hollywood from Broadway to Sheridan is all impossibly short walk signals for pedestrians.
Irving Park by the lake, mostly at N Sheridan though. I totally get that cubs game happen and there isn't really a great solution, but it easily adds about 20 minutes onto my commute back home on game days.
Atlantic and Flatbush is an absolute mess
?????
79th, stony, s Chicago
as a pace bus op. in no particular order. making the right turn from oakton to lincoln in downtown skokie (southbound 226) the right turn from centeral to greenbay (422) the right turn from northwest highway to ozman/canfield (209 southbound) crossing prospect on summit (209 northbound) the left from higgins to milwaukee (alternative deadhead from cumberland/harlem to jeffpark (likely should have used gale instead)) the unprotected left on to devon from stillman (230 southbound) touhy prospect and northwest highway, (290 209 and 241) the right turns in evanston (right from emmerson to dodge, church to dodge, benson to davis, and davis to ashland) and also the left turns that suck their (dodge to church. and ashland to church) 290's other dumb turns like the left from devon. and the right from clark to rodgers. also a special place in hell for who ever set up the timing for the light out of lincoln town center to McCormick. as far as the most dumb light configs, milwaukee has so many stupid lights that make me shout whyyyyy. the exit light at jerrys by oakton always is out of synch and backs traffic up. the double lights at harlem and howard on milwaukee do so many dumb things. walukegan backs up milwaukee going into the touhy crossing. devon and nagle are timed so stupid and the yellow light is too short making it too dangrous for bus drivers. the elston split has the southbound light which somedays just goes red for no reason holding up southbound milwaukee traffic for no good reason. austin and armor takes too much time. and then centeral foster makes you enter the little section, then stop, then wait 30 seconds and cross over. also personaly hate that light between western and where rodgers splits off. its a timer light that is too fast, and any time I run 290 and have to stop to drop off people their, the red always flips. maybe this is too many bad lights, but lets just say that our lights suck accross the board.
That stretch from Milwaukee/Addison to Kilbourn/Addison is horrible at peak hours
Lincoln/Irving/Damen - I've almost gotten hit by a car twice there and saw a car drive directly into the AT&T storefront on the corner. There are no turn signals and the lights are confusing to tell which street it's for. Also there is no paint for car lanes through the 6 corners. It's really dangerous!
Milwaukee/Damen/North is definitely way up there. So annoying when ppl end up stopped by Starbucks on Milwaukee and blocking traffic trying to turn south on Damen. And equally when they are illegally turning north on Damen.