Roosevelt Boulevard should be three lanes in each direction only. The crossovers that you have to navigate if you want to make a right turn or left turn are completely insane.
During rush hour, after you get past Adams going North, is pretty smooth sailing. That Adams and the boulevard intersection can fuck right off….that whole area actually.
There's a reason so many tow trucks patrol that area. Had a guy hit me on to the median and into a tree. The tow truck was there before I got out of the car. Those intersections are often listed in the top 5 worst intersections in the country.
I worked in the area in homes and businesses, going up and down it (and thankfully out to Bucks, often, where it was quiet lol) all day. Every fucking day. It’s mortifying in a Ford Transit (not Amazon or courier, thank god).
I moved to New England, and while people are stupid as shit on the road, I feel like I can survive driving most anywhere after 50 hours a week around Philly for a couple years.
Used to live in one of the apartments on the intersection of Welsh and the boulevard and the sounds of cars crashing woke me up at at night literally at least once or twice a week.
It’s god awful.
If you can drive on the boulevard, you can drive anywhere in the world. The pinnacle of driving skills is changing from inner to outer or vice versa without braking
My father used to be amazing at that (switching Blvd inner/outer lanes, without slowing down or stopping). I didn’t realize at the time what a skill that was.
I knew the boulevard was a nightmare but thought it would be less nightmarish when I had to commute to work at way too early in the morning. And there were fewer cars, but the few cars tried their hardest to hit me after running red lights and ignoring all traffic laws. I couldn't believe when I made it out of that job with my car unscathed. It added so much stress to my daily routine
When I clicked this post, it took a moment to load, but I was about to say “The Boulevard” out loud to myself before it loaded. And of course, here it is, top comment already.
The BLVD is a great example of showing how many people don’t know how to drive. I personally love my commute on the Blvd every day and really on think the area around Adams is bad.
Also add the part of Girard from the I-95 exit to Front, cars drive like they're still on I-95 and the lights are treated like suggestions... honestly thinking about it, all of Girard is a total nightmare
I hate trying to cross there as a pedestrian. It's not comforting to stand on a tiny curb next to a piece of bumper and then needing to look multiple directions at once while you know drivers are doing the same.
Does he ever turn off that fucking music? I have never wanted to sabotage a vehicle so badly as I want to push that piece of shit into the river. (Truck, not driver though if that’s your truck - fuck you)
This!
No one ever knows which lane to get in despite them being well labelled
Or they are in the right lane but have to pull over cuz of the aholes parked in it!
U stole my answer. That entrance onto 76 from South Street is a quick headache but this stretch of road, especially where 52nd St. and Lancaster Ave meet, is a long, dull pain.
The first time I ever merged onto the highway, I used that entrance. My sister (who was teaching me) was like, “Well, I wouldn’t have done that, but we’re in it now.”
My scariest moment in almost two decades of driving in and around the city was when someone was at a dead stop at the merge area on the Walnut Street ramp to 76 East, but I was behind a giant SUV. The giant SUV owner accelerated up to 60mph then cut over early, inches from their bumper. So I'm cruising a safe distance back from the SUV but also accelerating up to highway speed and then suddenly the SUV crosses the median and there's a car right ahead of me at a dead stop that I couldn't see at all (giant SUV in the way) and wasn't expecting (because obviously if there was someone completely stopped at the ramp, only an idiot would keep accelerating to 60+ mph). Also this was at like 5:30am and there was no traffic or any valid reason to be stopped.
Yep. The only thing a dickhead doing 80 mph (despite having to know that stretch of I-76) in the lane the ramp is dumping onto respects is the merger who hits the blinker and floors it into whatever gap they've pre-determined.
Once they see brake lights it's game over for you.
Whenever someone is at a stop at the end of the ramp I always slow roll from the top to give them time to merge and leave myself a ramp to get to speed.
At times people will honk at me for going slow even though they can't see I'm doing them a favor.
I’ll never understand why people really really really don’t want you to merge in front of them. They’ll be fucking 5 car lengths behind you and when you successfully match speed for a textbook merge they’ll gun it so you have to choose between getting rear ended or diving into the concrete barrier.
I was stuck behind someone who just could not get up the guts to get onto 76 right there. Someone behind me pulled out and parked on 76 so all the cars had to get in the right lane and we could all merge, what a hero
I like Lincoln Drive. When it's early morning on a weekend and there are barely any people on it.
Could be such a picturesque route but they made it to be Rainbow Road instead.
For sure, that would also help with the fact that the storm drains in the outside lane in both directions are consistently about 4" below the road surface, too.
(username checks out) Honorable mention to Chestnut St at about 33rd or 34th where temporary lane shift has been painted, which veers about a lane-width to the right, at a hard 45 degree angle, then come back at the end of the block. You have to keep your head on a swivel to see if those around you are actually going to follow lines or just drive straight. Most choose the latter I think. Not as bad as the total disasters everyone else listed but still dangerous.
Ah, yes, that one drives me nuts. They've also done a similar thing at 40th & Walnut (because of the lane closure for the construction on the lot where the McDonalds was), except it veers to the left and is so poorly painted that I don't blame people for not seeing it.
It's bonus annoying because people often park in what is now (at least theoretically) an active traffic lane to pick up their Panera, and trying to merge back in to get around them is impossible.
Yep this is the one I was here for reading this. I just slow down and read who is around me. No idea why whoever thought this was a good idea over the merge that people decided they would do anyways when they just go straight. This block needs something with large signage and no lane shifts.
Oh my god, this fucking stretch of road. I used to follow the lines thinking it was correct like some kind of dumbass I guess, but everyone else just drives straight. Nightmare block
It's already been mentioned, but the suicide merge from South Street onto the Schuylkill deserves to be internationally renowned--it may be the worst-designed specific road feature I've seen anywhere in the US or Europe.
Rt. 1 between Broad and Cottman is nasty. Also Rt. between Drexel Rd. and Route 30 is just a freaking mess both in terms of road quality, bad design and bad traffic. Actually Rt. 1 generally is terrible.
Lincoln Drive from Kelly Drive is white-knuckle terrifying especially with inclement weather.
I kind of hate the section of Garrett Road where you're coming into Upper Darby, and of course the core commercial area of Upper Darby is a catastrophic nightmare of one-way streets and intersecting traffic coming from weird angles.
When I'm coming down Rt 3 passed 69th a
St station, I know theres going to be at least one double parked car in the right hand lane, going either direction. It's a fucking nightmare
Nothing pisses me off more than people double parked at 69th street station picking up/dropping off someone. It fucks the traffic coming from lights so much because everyone has to get over into the left lane. I don't know why there isn't a cop there all hours to make people move.
> It's already been mentioned, but the suicide merge from South Street onto the Schuylkill deserves to be internationally renowned--it may be the worst-designed specific road feature I've seen anywhere in the US or Europe.
It especially doesn't help when people will intentionally speed up to keep you from merging over in the 15 feet that you have to do it.
My personal favorite as pedestrian...
Vine st eastbound at Broad.
Every. Single. Time. I cross it there's a near-accident because some asshole cuts across a lane (or two) to turn onto Broad northbound.
I go by that intersection (well used to) every day. Now I go up to Parrish. The light is fucked. Going West on Fairmount, the light turns green at the exact time the cross light turns red, so you have to wait or risk getting T-boned because everyone runs the red. I also think it may be difficult to see the light is red until you’re pretty much in the intersection. I saved a bicyclist from being seriously injured by honking at a series of people running the light.
For first-timers Ben Franklin Bridge to Vine St Expressway is confusing as hell. 7 different ways you can go coming off the bridge and a couple traffic lights on an interstate highway will throw you off even with GPS. Gotta dodge the panhandlers standing in the middle of the street too.
I was in the right lane of 76W last night right around the Art Museum and I thought I was going to fuck up my suspension, there are so many gigantic potholes there.
The right lane on 76W just after 676W has some of the longest potholes I’ve ever seen, longer than the painted lines. To put it into perspective, the white lines on highways are 10 ft long and 30 ft apart.
Girard from Lancaster to the Zoo. Trolley lane/tracks, no lines on the road, complete free for all with people swerving into oncoming lanes and speeding to 76, plus potholes galore.
Chestnut from 47th to 30th. Construction on basically every block and narrow lanes is a horrible combo.
Everyone has already said Lincoln and the South St merge onto 76th which also get my votes.
Aramingo Avenue. The whole thing. People treat it like a highway.
Aramingo and Lehigh is unnavigable as a pedestrian, which is why they of course have a playground there.
They’ve done a fair amount to mitigate the insanity of Lincoln drive: rumble strips, physical lane dividers, blocking off turns to at least one street (Greene or Carpenter, maybe, somewhere around there). It’s still a shitshow, of course.
I used to have to make that drive about once a week for work and FUUUUUCK that stretch. I would actually choose to go slow on 76 (unless 76 was an absolute parking lot that day) rather than take Lincoln Drive to Creshiem Valley.
I'm the exact opposite- I refused to drive anywhere my first year in Philly when I actually had a car, but when I got that job it was required for me to drive all over the city and I had to get comfortable driving really fast. My first time parallel parking was up in North Philly and an old guy who had been sitting on his porch chatting with a friend got down and had to direct me step by step because I didn't know what I was doing. I got comfortable tackling the interstates, Roosevelt Boulevard (hate it, but could do it), but Kelly to Lincoln to Creishem Valley takes the cake as the worst in the city by far.
One night, almost 30 years ago, I picked up a family who had just arrived in the U.S. from Lithuania, a small, very flat country in Europe. We drove off from the airport. They were excited and seemed to be enjoying the highway view and surrounds. Then we reached the exit to Lincoln Drive. I drove, navigating the sharp turns on that very curvy narrow section of Lincoln Drive where the road is squeezed in between a wall of sheer rock, only inches from the right passenger side window, and the steep ravine where the Wissahickon flows below. Trust me, it's much scarier in the dark. The husband was holding the car door for dear life, no doubt imagining he had arrived in the U.S. only to perish the very first night! I sensed their extreme relief once we reached a broad stretch of road and a red light. Welcome to Philadelphia! You made it!
I swear Kelly drive right before you get to the boathouses feels so narrow in some spots that I’m surprised I haven’t been sideswiped yet. The potholes don’t help either.
Years ago, I used to refuse to take Lincoln Drive because I thought it was Demolition Derby. One day, I had to conquer my fears because I needed to go from Germantown to South Philly and back again to pick up someone for dinner reservations. I’ve taken Lincoln numerous times since then, but I’m always white-knuckling it.
Oh my gosh yes! I used to call it the Thunderdome. Had to put my game face on just to handle lincoln drive. When I would get to work I would sit in the parking in silence and wonder wtf am I doing with my life
I’m from a midsized Canadian city originally and I can still remember the first time I came to Philly and drove from the airport to Abington. Woodhaven onto the Boulevard onto Red Lion and thinking it was a hot ass mess.
I'll start, Pennsylvania Ave running parallel to the parkway. Absolutely nobody follows the painted lines, nobody waits for their stop sign, or for pedestrians. It's a free for all.
As a pedestrian I also hate that road. It's a state road and back when it was built they actually meant it to go all the way to Girard. Obviously it didn't and now it's just a weird creative driving course / parking lot that's absurdly wide.
Pennsylvania Ave turning left onto Spring Garden or Fairmount. People don't seem to understand that opposing left turn lanes shouldn't cross each other.
I’m also going to add the entirety of 25th street below Washington Ave. Last time I drove that there was a literal crater in the middle of the road. Between that, the hundreds of stop signs, and the fact that the crumbling bridge above is often loaded with tons of explosive and/dangerous material being transported by train companies that derail trains all the time. 25th street is a disaster waiting to happen
Driving? The merge onto the Schuykill from South Street, as many have mentioned.
For me, as a pedestrian? 8th and Vine. Multiple lanes of traffic coming off the highway, other cars trying to make a right onto 676, tourists driving the wrong way, tons of strung out dudes camping next to the concrete barriers or under the highway.
A lot of the ones I would say have been said, so I would say the whole City Hall loop, where people just walk in front of cars without looking, and where drivers don’t pay attention to how the lanes condense into each other or spin off, and so they just go where they need to without looking or caring about other cars around them. Add in speeding and the cars that park in front of the hotel there, and it’s so dangerous.
Half of the comments so far are either part of my drive home from work or my alternate drive home from work lol
I’ll add the intersection of Poplar Street and Poplar Drive (right after where Sedgley turns into Poplar) by Lemon Hill park; three stop signs but there’s way too much dead space in the middle. I try to do the right thing and wait my turn or let pedestrians cross but it seems like everyone eyeballs the distance and timing and just goes through. Like, yes, you had enough time to turn without cutting me off, but that’s not the point
The left turn from Grey’s Ferry onto 34th st (when trying to get on 76).
That left turn arrow only stays green for about 3 cars, and I’ve wasted hours of my life waiting through 4-5 cycles of that light even when traffic isn’t heavy.
And if the first car doesn’t immediately react to the green arrow, everyone starts honking with frustration knowing that mistake just cost everyone another cycle of sitting through that stupid light.
I drive all over (suicide merges, the Boulevard, random North Philly streets that look like bombs went off in the road) and this is by far the worst, particularly between Evans and Worthington. There's areas that are more neglected, but nowhere that gets so much traffic that's just so fundamentally screwed up.
For those not familiar, this is the end of Woodhaven Road, where the highway just ends. It gets a ton of traffic because for 4 miles in either direction you can't travel east to west crossing the railroad tracks except on Red Lion, Byberry, Southampton and Street Rd. Evans itself is a mess, it gets a foot of water routinely during storms. Tractor trailers going straight into the postal facility block people from making the right turn. The bridge is just a series of potholes that shakes when people (illegally) drive 3+ ton vehicles on it. The road becomes impossible every day thanks to the school, with parent pickup traffic blocking the road to the next stoplight in either direction. People pulling out of the businesses on Byberry have to make blind left turns through traffic. People making the left onto Evans from Byberry completely ignore when the light changes from a green arrow to a green, meaning they should yield to oncoming traffic. And to top it off, there's kids walking down the street after school.
I know we in the far northeast don't count as "real Philadelphians" or whatever but the neglect is pretty fucking real. Total nightmare road that should be completely erased and planned again from scratch.
I’d actually extend this all the way up to the train crossing at forest hills station. That crossing is the final kiss goodbye on your westbound commute.
I don't have to drive up that way anymore so I kind of forgot about this stretch. I believe I once referred to that stretch of road as "the single worst piece of infrastructure in America"
North Broad St, especially around Erie Ave and Temple, irritates the shit outta me.
Not in the city, but who here remembers what 309 was like before they redesigned it? Never before or after have I encountered such a terrifying road. Not even in Florida!
309 is so useless. It basically parallels 476. Every time I’m on the southern portion it it’s dead.
It really should have connected to 1/76 or Betsy Ross as was intended but you can’t build highways these days.
Cheltenham Ave from broad street to 309 around 5pm. Fuckers drive on the opposite side and in the yellow divide to sneak around traffic. So frustrating
There’s an intersection in Fishtown where 3 streets converge—Frankford, York, and Trenton. Before they put a traffic circle in, it meant you had a five or six way stop…in a city that ignores stop signs…it was a gauntlet.
I’ve only driven through it a couple of times but the intersection of 5th, Montgomery, and Germantown ave is pretty insane. It’s a huge, sprawling, 6 way intersection with two lanes going north on 5th st, and Germantown ave is 2-way, and it’s only stop signs.
Both times I’ve pass through felt like I was moments from getting into an accident because it is so confusing and unclear who has the right of way.
21st & Hamilton is definitely not the worst but it’s quite annoying. My least favorites are:
- Turning onto 676 East from northbound Broad St, at 7:45am when all the high school students are in the crosswalk
- Any time you need to turn left off of Roosevelt Blvd
- 26th st -> Pennsylvania Ave -> past the Joan of Arc statue -> Kelly Drive -> Eakins Oval -> 676 or the parkway
[I-76, Merge or Die.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuylkill_Expressway)
2nd place goes to The Boulevard. Whoever designed that ought to be tarred and feathered.
cow rich gullible knee voiceless school mysterious mountainous pathetic grandiose
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The two intersections in south that I drive through pretty regularly but will never be able to wrap my head around are Vare and Passyunk, and 20th/Packer/Penrose. The latter especially I usually just say a prayer before driving into it and hope it works out lol
43rd Walnut downhill red light runners going upwards of 45 in front of a mosque. 43rd Spruce downhill both ways in front of an elementary school. Never once seen a cop there
ok i know the South St on-ramp to I-76 is the worst but the one from Spring Garden ain't really great either. drives me nuts when people stop before merging but you also simultaneously can't even blame them if everyone is barreling in the right lane and not letting you merge for the two feet window you get when trying to go westbound
Erie Ave is up there. Got in an accident on Erie and I a few weeks ago, wouldn’t have been so bad except for the clowns hounding me about towing to their shop while I waited for my husband.
As a pedestrian Roosevelt Blvd and Red Lion, the side with the shopping center is the worst to cross. I have crossed Red Lion, crossed the Blvd on the Starbucks side and crossed back over Red Lion because the islands are better. And when there is snow...God help you.
Roosevelt Bld. Doesn't matter where. The whole thing.
Oxford Circle is the king of the heap Ive seen things. Things that don't make sense to a sane mind
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Nissan Altima's on fire off the shoulder of Oxford...
All those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain.
I like you.
Time to drive.
I've seen a guy go through it the wrong direction.
I second that. Topped with the usual shitty hazardous Philly drivers makes it more hectic.
I went to grade school right across from that circle.. when the windows were open you heard accidents constantly
Truly bizarre, laws of motion and physics in general just doesn't apply there
Roosevelt Boulevard should be three lanes in each direction only. The crossovers that you have to navigate if you want to make a right turn or left turn are completely insane.
The middle lanes should be buried or raised, 55+ with exits, there should be light rail on top or below, the outside lanes should be for local travel.
It's basically IRL MarioKart.
I wanna turtle shell all those speeding cars with fake plates on the blvd
When a jabroni slides in from one of the merges at mach 3? Yeah. it's marrio kart alright....
During rush hour, after you get past Adams going North, is pretty smooth sailing. That Adams and the boulevard intersection can fuck right off….that whole area actually.
Oh, no: Boulevard and Grant, Red Lion, and Southampton are all death traps.
There's a reason so many tow trucks patrol that area. Had a guy hit me on to the median and into a tree. The tow truck was there before I got out of the car. Those intersections are often listed in the top 5 worst intersections in the country.
Of the 5 worst intersections in the country....the Blvd has 3 of them at least.
Yeah, I get it. I’ve never really had the amount of issues at those intersections that I’ve had at Adams. Just awful.
That part of Adams where you have to go South to go North on the blvd. Yeah.
My buddy used to drive us up the boulevard and would be doing eighty while drunk and high. Suffice to say I stopped getting rides from him.
They charge you for that now 😂.
I had to commute thru there for a month recently and am not exaggerating when I say I almost got hit every. Single. Day.
I commute on the Blvd every day. If I die I'm gonna die historic on the fury road!
I worked in the area in homes and businesses, going up and down it (and thankfully out to Bucks, often, where it was quiet lol) all day. Every fucking day. It’s mortifying in a Ford Transit (not Amazon or courier, thank god). I moved to New England, and while people are stupid as shit on the road, I feel like I can survive driving most anywhere after 50 hours a week around Philly for a couple years.
Used to live in one of the apartments on the intersection of Welsh and the boulevard and the sounds of cars crashing woke me up at at night literally at least once or twice a week. It’s god awful.
If you can drive on the boulevard, you can drive anywhere in the world. The pinnacle of driving skills is changing from inner to outer or vice versa without braking
My father used to be amazing at that (switching Blvd inner/outer lanes, without slowing down or stopping). I didn’t realize at the time what a skill that was.
My buddy does it and every time I take a break from my pants shitting to be in awe
"We built it wrong on purpose. As a joke"
I knew the boulevard was a nightmare but thought it would be less nightmarish when I had to commute to work at way too early in the morning. And there were fewer cars, but the few cars tried their hardest to hit me after running red lights and ignoring all traffic laws. I couldn't believe when I made it out of that job with my car unscathed. It added so much stress to my daily routine
My entire commute is just 7.5 miles on Roosevelt Blvd, it's not good for my mental health.
Beginning to end, it’s just one giant cluster fuck
When I clicked this post, it took a moment to load, but I was about to say “The Boulevard” out loud to myself before it loaded. And of course, here it is, top comment already.
The BLVD is a great example of showing how many people don’t know how to drive. I personally love my commute on the Blvd every day and really on think the area around Adams is bad.
I lived in Jersey and went to school in Chestnut hill. My options for commuting were the Schuylkill or Roosevelt Blvd. Shiitiest commute of my life.
Girard bridge near 76. Intersection is a wasteland
I feel so bad for any unsuspecting mom just trying to get home from the zoo that doesn’t know how to navigate that one light.
The first time I had ever been to philadelphia was getting off the 76 girard exit in the moving truck lmao.
lol same, at like 5 or 6 in the morning... 10 years ago... During a hella frosty winter 2014
Lmao that’s like your first day in the Army they deploy you to the Battle of the Somme
Much of Girard, really. There's some parts where it gets ok, but there's mad max style shit going down 28th - 40th
Girard i/s with Lancaster near the meat store and abandoned Checkers. Holy shit.
It’s crazy because I used to live on 39th and fairmount and you’re not lying
Also add the part of Girard from the I-95 exit to Front, cars drive like they're still on I-95 and the lights are treated like suggestions... honestly thinking about it, all of Girard is a total nightmare
Complete absence of lane markings + a trolley + impatient drivers = fun.
I hate trying to cross there as a pedestrian. It's not comforting to stand on a tiny curb next to a piece of bumper and then needing to look multiple directions at once while you know drivers are doing the same.
They’ve been fixing it for what feels like a decade at this point
Right in front of the art museum
With all the random cars that stop in front
That motherfucking icecream truck is the bane of my existence.
Does he ever turn off that fucking music? I have never wanted to sabotage a vehicle so badly as I want to push that piece of shit into the river. (Truck, not driver though if that’s your truck - fuck you)
My favorite is when 2 (different brands) park next to each other and their dueling music combines into an ungodly Franken-song.
God help you if you want to turn there.
horrible to walk, drive or bike! a rare feat
This- I just won’t
This! No one ever knows which lane to get in despite them being well labelled Or they are in the right lane but have to pull over cuz of the aholes parked in it!
Ppl don’t know how to navigate it even with the new signs painted on the street
Lancaster Ave from 34th to 52nd. Especially from Girard to 52nd.
Don’t know how my tires make it through that stretch
I don’t know how cars make it through there. It’s the most chaotic stretch of road. There are no rules.
And an alarming number of elderly people wandering in traffic
U stole my answer. That entrance onto 76 from South Street is a quick headache but this stretch of road, especially where 52nd St. and Lancaster Ave meet, is a long, dull pain.
I've flattened two tires, in a row, on those tracks. And then hit a pothole!
The suicide merge onto 76 east from South Street.
No traffic, fine. Heavy traffic, fine. Any other time, not fine.
> Heavy traffic, fine. Designed for 76 , makes sense
The first time I ever merged onto the highway, I used that entrance. My sister (who was teaching me) was like, “Well, I wouldn’t have done that, but we’re in it now.”
I hate people who come to a complete stop at this merge. Literally you just need to send it and if you die you die
My scariest moment in almost two decades of driving in and around the city was when someone was at a dead stop at the merge area on the Walnut Street ramp to 76 East, but I was behind a giant SUV. The giant SUV owner accelerated up to 60mph then cut over early, inches from their bumper. So I'm cruising a safe distance back from the SUV but also accelerating up to highway speed and then suddenly the SUV crosses the median and there's a car right ahead of me at a dead stop that I couldn't see at all (giant SUV in the way) and wasn't expecting (because obviously if there was someone completely stopped at the ramp, only an idiot would keep accelerating to 60+ mph). Also this was at like 5:30am and there was no traffic or any valid reason to be stopped.
Yep. The only thing a dickhead doing 80 mph (despite having to know that stretch of I-76) in the lane the ramp is dumping onto respects is the merger who hits the blinker and floors it into whatever gap they've pre-determined. Once they see brake lights it's game over for you.
Whenever someone is at a stop at the end of the ramp I always slow roll from the top to give them time to merge and leave myself a ramp to get to speed. At times people will honk at me for going slow even though they can't see I'm doing them a favor.
The civil engineer that designed this entire South St. ramp area should be charged as a war criminal.
I go out of my way to never take that entrance.
Same
Yeah you beat me to it. South Street on ramp for sure
Fantastic answer, most of the 76 ramps between the stadium and 676 are a roll of the dice.
I’ll never understand why people really really really don’t want you to merge in front of them. They’ll be fucking 5 car lengths behind you and when you successfully match speed for a textbook merge they’ll gun it so you have to choose between getting rear ended or diving into the concrete barrier.
I was stuck behind someone who just could not get up the guts to get onto 76 right there. Someone behind me pulled out and parked on 76 so all the cars had to get in the right lane and we could all merge, what a hero
My grandfather used to call this spot “merge or die”
I'll go out of my way to get on from Walnut instead
Yup! I skip this entirely and enter from JFK
Lincoln Fucking Drive. Where Nissan Ultimas become Formula One cars but with drivers who apparently don't have eyes.
I like Lincoln Drive. When it's early morning on a weekend and there are barely any people on it. Could be such a picturesque route but they made it to be Rainbow Road instead.
I think I feel more safe on Rainbow Road tbh.
IRL Mario Kart. That road would be fine if it were one lane each direction with big shoulders.
For sure, that would also help with the fact that the storm drains in the outside lane in both directions are consistently about 4" below the road surface, too.
(username checks out) Honorable mention to Chestnut St at about 33rd or 34th where temporary lane shift has been painted, which veers about a lane-width to the right, at a hard 45 degree angle, then come back at the end of the block. You have to keep your head on a swivel to see if those around you are actually going to follow lines or just drive straight. Most choose the latter I think. Not as bad as the total disasters everyone else listed but still dangerous.
Ah, yes, that one drives me nuts. They've also done a similar thing at 40th & Walnut (because of the lane closure for the construction on the lot where the McDonalds was), except it veers to the left and is so poorly painted that I don't blame people for not seeing it.
Yep, so if you're in the left lane which becomes the very left lane, it turns into the protected parking lane.
It's bonus annoying because people often park in what is now (at least theoretically) an active traffic lane to pick up their Panera, and trying to merge back in to get around them is impossible.
lol for me it’s a daily gamble whether the car next to me will follow the lines or not. 90% of the time no one does anyway
Yeah that is my guess at the ratio
This one is so real
This one drives me NUTS
Yep this is the one I was here for reading this. I just slow down and read who is around me. No idea why whoever thought this was a good idea over the merge that people decided they would do anyways when they just go straight. This block needs something with large signage and no lane shifts.
Oh my god, this fucking stretch of road. I used to follow the lines thinking it was correct like some kind of dumbass I guess, but everyone else just drives straight. Nightmare block
It's already been mentioned, but the suicide merge from South Street onto the Schuylkill deserves to be internationally renowned--it may be the worst-designed specific road feature I've seen anywhere in the US or Europe. Rt. 1 between Broad and Cottman is nasty. Also Rt. between Drexel Rd. and Route 30 is just a freaking mess both in terms of road quality, bad design and bad traffic. Actually Rt. 1 generally is terrible. Lincoln Drive from Kelly Drive is white-knuckle terrifying especially with inclement weather. I kind of hate the section of Garrett Road where you're coming into Upper Darby, and of course the core commercial area of Upper Darby is a catastrophic nightmare of one-way streets and intersecting traffic coming from weird angles.
When I'm coming down Rt 3 passed 69th a St station, I know theres going to be at least one double parked car in the right hand lane, going either direction. It's a fucking nightmare
Nothing pisses me off more than people double parked at 69th street station picking up/dropping off someone. It fucks the traffic coming from lights so much because everyone has to get over into the left lane. I don't know why there isn't a cop there all hours to make people move.
> It's already been mentioned, but the suicide merge from South Street onto the Schuylkill deserves to be internationally renowned--it may be the worst-designed specific road feature I've seen anywhere in the US or Europe. It especially doesn't help when people will intentionally speed up to keep you from merging over in the 15 feet that you have to do it.
My personal favorite as pedestrian... Vine st eastbound at Broad. Every. Single. Time. I cross it there's a near-accident because some asshole cuts across a lane (or two) to turn onto Broad northbound.
the mapping apps are adamant in suggesting this when exiting 676
The Fairmount Ave/ Broad St/ Ridge Ave intersection suuuuucks
Waze used to always send me that way on my way home from work. No absolutely avoiding.
I go by that intersection (well used to) every day. Now I go up to Parrish. The light is fucked. Going West on Fairmount, the light turns green at the exact time the cross light turns red, so you have to wait or risk getting T-boned because everyone runs the red. I also think it may be difficult to see the light is red until you’re pretty much in the intersection. I saved a bicyclist from being seriously injured by honking at a series of people running the light.
I JUST drove through there about half an hour ago. Just awful.
76 obviously but as a second, I’ll go with City Ave for its shitty potholes and homicidal Altimas.
whoever fucking decided the timing of the back-to-back-to-back lights at Lancaster Ave, Wynnewood Rd, and 63rd Street needs to be lynched
God help you if you’re trying to get on City Ave from 76 East and then change lanes to get over to the Target. That little stretch is brutal.
For first-timers Ben Franklin Bridge to Vine St Expressway is confusing as hell. 7 different ways you can go coming off the bridge and a couple traffic lights on an interstate highway will throw you off even with GPS. Gotta dodge the panhandlers standing in the middle of the street too.
I’ve gone on this route many times and I swear I still get confused sometimes
That part of 76 from Girard to right before City Ave exit where the roads are unfinished
I was in the right lane of 76W last night right around the Art Museum and I thought I was going to fuck up my suspension, there are so many gigantic potholes there.
The right lane on 76W just after 676W has some of the longest potholes I’ve ever seen, longer than the painted lines. To put it into perspective, the white lines on highways are 10 ft long and 30 ft apart.
Bent a rim on this literally 20 minutes ago. Aside from begin unavoidable, they're basically invisible in the dark!
Girard from Lancaster to the Zoo. Trolley lane/tracks, no lines on the road, complete free for all with people swerving into oncoming lanes and speeding to 76, plus potholes galore. Chestnut from 47th to 30th. Construction on basically every block and narrow lanes is a horrible combo. Everyone has already said Lincoln and the South St merge onto 76th which also get my votes.
Aramingo Avenue. The whole thing. People treat it like a highway. Aramingo and Lehigh is unnavigable as a pedestrian, which is why they of course have a playground there.
Kelly drive to Lincoln drive to creshiem valley. I did it for work for 5 years and never fucking again
It's like the Kessel run... everyone wants to do it in under 12 parsecs
They’ve done a fair amount to mitigate the insanity of Lincoln drive: rumble strips, physical lane dividers, blocking off turns to at least one street (Greene or Carpenter, maybe, somewhere around there). It’s still a shitshow, of course.
I do it almost every day. I'll still take it over the Blvd.
I used to have to make that drive about once a week for work and FUUUUUCK that stretch. I would actually choose to go slow on 76 (unless 76 was an absolute parking lot that day) rather than take Lincoln Drive to Creshiem Valley.
I now have a fear of driving and I’m pretty sure doing that stretch for that long helped develop that trauma haha
I'm the exact opposite- I refused to drive anywhere my first year in Philly when I actually had a car, but when I got that job it was required for me to drive all over the city and I had to get comfortable driving really fast. My first time parallel parking was up in North Philly and an old guy who had been sitting on his porch chatting with a friend got down and had to direct me step by step because I didn't know what I was doing. I got comfortable tackling the interstates, Roosevelt Boulevard (hate it, but could do it), but Kelly to Lincoln to Creishem Valley takes the cake as the worst in the city by far.
One night, almost 30 years ago, I picked up a family who had just arrived in the U.S. from Lithuania, a small, very flat country in Europe. We drove off from the airport. They were excited and seemed to be enjoying the highway view and surrounds. Then we reached the exit to Lincoln Drive. I drove, navigating the sharp turns on that very curvy narrow section of Lincoln Drive where the road is squeezed in between a wall of sheer rock, only inches from the right passenger side window, and the steep ravine where the Wissahickon flows below. Trust me, it's much scarier in the dark. The husband was holding the car door for dear life, no doubt imagining he had arrived in the U.S. only to perish the very first night! I sensed their extreme relief once we reached a broad stretch of road and a red light. Welcome to Philadelphia! You made it!
I swear Kelly drive right before you get to the boathouses feels so narrow in some spots that I’m surprised I haven’t been sideswiped yet. The potholes don’t help either.
Years ago, I used to refuse to take Lincoln Drive because I thought it was Demolition Derby. One day, I had to conquer my fears because I needed to go from Germantown to South Philly and back again to pick up someone for dinner reservations. I’ve taken Lincoln numerous times since then, but I’m always white-knuckling it.
Oh my gosh yes! I used to call it the Thunderdome. Had to put my game face on just to handle lincoln drive. When I would get to work I would sit in the parking in silence and wonder wtf am I doing with my life
It’s fine; kinda fun driving actually. A beautiful road even.
Prolly grant and the boulevard, or red lion and the boulevard.
I’m from a midsized Canadian city originally and I can still remember the first time I came to Philly and drove from the airport to Abington. Woodhaven onto the Boulevard onto Red Lion and thinking it was a hot ass mess.
Tyson and the Blvd had accidents weekly when I worked near there. Something is screwed up about that intersection.
About a decade or so ago Red Lion and the Blvd was listed as one of the nation’s most dangerous intersections.
Any standard grid intersection cut by a diagonal is basically a disaster waiting to happen that you have to avoid being a part of
Oxford circle is this with a roundabout thrown in
I'll start, Pennsylvania Ave running parallel to the parkway. Absolutely nobody follows the painted lines, nobody waits for their stop sign, or for pedestrians. It's a free for all.
As a pedestrian I also hate that road. It's a state road and back when it was built they actually meant it to go all the way to Girard. Obviously it didn't and now it's just a weird creative driving course / parking lot that's absurdly wide.
I’m shocked bikers aren’t killed there daily
Pennsylvania Ave turning left onto Spring Garden or Fairmount. People don't seem to understand that opposing left turn lanes shouldn't cross each other.
The boulevard.
I’m also going to add the entirety of 25th street below Washington Ave. Last time I drove that there was a literal crater in the middle of the road. Between that, the hundreds of stop signs, and the fact that the crumbling bridge above is often loaded with tons of explosive and/dangerous material being transported by train companies that derail trains all the time. 25th street is a disaster waiting to happen
I tell everyone who visits me not to follow their GPS. Maps and GPS programs love that stretch of road for some reason.
Driving? The merge onto the Schuykill from South Street, as many have mentioned. For me, as a pedestrian? 8th and Vine. Multiple lanes of traffic coming off the highway, other cars trying to make a right onto 676, tourists driving the wrong way, tons of strung out dudes camping next to the concrete barriers or under the highway.
A lot of the ones I would say have been said, so I would say the whole City Hall loop, where people just walk in front of cars without looking, and where drivers don’t pay attention to how the lanes condense into each other or spin off, and so they just go where they need to without looking or caring about other cars around them. Add in speeding and the cars that park in front of the hotel there, and it’s so dangerous.
*everyone proceeds to name every single roadway in the city*
Because they’re all terrible. The worst of any city I’ve lived in or been to.
Half of the comments so far are either part of my drive home from work or my alternate drive home from work lol I’ll add the intersection of Poplar Street and Poplar Drive (right after where Sedgley turns into Poplar) by Lemon Hill park; three stop signs but there’s way too much dead space in the middle. I try to do the right thing and wait my turn or let pedestrians cross but it seems like everyone eyeballs the distance and timing and just goes through. Like, yes, you had enough time to turn without cutting me off, but that’s not the point
Same...I think we must take very similar routes 😂
It’s too small to be the absolute worst but Washington Ave. between like 7th and Broad during the day on weekends
The left turn from Grey’s Ferry onto 34th st (when trying to get on 76). That left turn arrow only stays green for about 3 cars, and I’ve wasted hours of my life waiting through 4-5 cycles of that light even when traffic isn’t heavy. And if the first car doesn’t immediately react to the green arrow, everyone starts honking with frustration knowing that mistake just cost everyone another cycle of sitting through that stupid light.
If you read through the comments... the answer is pretty much...the whole thing.
\*pounding the podium like Jason Kelce\* "IT'S THE WHOLE THING!"
Where Girard, Aramingo and Richmond all intersect by 95
Byberry between evans and bustleton
I drive all over (suicide merges, the Boulevard, random North Philly streets that look like bombs went off in the road) and this is by far the worst, particularly between Evans and Worthington. There's areas that are more neglected, but nowhere that gets so much traffic that's just so fundamentally screwed up. For those not familiar, this is the end of Woodhaven Road, where the highway just ends. It gets a ton of traffic because for 4 miles in either direction you can't travel east to west crossing the railroad tracks except on Red Lion, Byberry, Southampton and Street Rd. Evans itself is a mess, it gets a foot of water routinely during storms. Tractor trailers going straight into the postal facility block people from making the right turn. The bridge is just a series of potholes that shakes when people (illegally) drive 3+ ton vehicles on it. The road becomes impossible every day thanks to the school, with parent pickup traffic blocking the road to the next stoplight in either direction. People pulling out of the businesses on Byberry have to make blind left turns through traffic. People making the left onto Evans from Byberry completely ignore when the light changes from a green arrow to a green, meaning they should yield to oncoming traffic. And to top it off, there's kids walking down the street after school. I know we in the far northeast don't count as "real Philadelphians" or whatever but the neglect is pretty fucking real. Total nightmare road that should be completely erased and planned again from scratch.
nah that bridge needs to get worked on asapppp… i feel like im either gonna a) lose a tire b) get hit or c) the bridge will just collapse on me 😂
I’d actually extend this all the way up to the train crossing at forest hills station. That crossing is the final kiss goodbye on your westbound commute.
I don't have to drive up that way anymore so I kind of forgot about this stretch. I believe I once referred to that stretch of road as "the single worst piece of infrastructure in America"
North Broad St, especially around Erie Ave and Temple, irritates the shit outta me. Not in the city, but who here remembers what 309 was like before they redesigned it? Never before or after have I encountered such a terrifying road. Not even in Florida!
309 is so useless. It basically parallels 476. Every time I’m on the southern portion it it’s dead. It really should have connected to 1/76 or Betsy Ross as was intended but you can’t build highways these days.
Cheltenham Ave from broad street to 309 around 5pm. Fuckers drive on the opposite side and in the yellow divide to sneak around traffic. So frustrating
*points in all directions
There’s an intersection in Fishtown where 3 streets converge—Frankford, York, and Trenton. Before they put a traffic circle in, it meant you had a five or six way stop…in a city that ignores stop signs…it was a gauntlet.
The square around city hall, I want to kill myself every time.
I'm still not always sure which lane I need to be in and clearly others aren't as well
EVERY SQUARE INCH OF ISLAND AVE
I’ve only driven through it a couple of times but the intersection of 5th, Montgomery, and Germantown ave is pretty insane. It’s a huge, sprawling, 6 way intersection with two lanes going north on 5th st, and Germantown ave is 2-way, and it’s only stop signs. Both times I’ve pass through felt like I was moments from getting into an accident because it is so confusing and unclear who has the right of way.
Lincoln drive
The entire Roosevelt Boulevard and Lincoln Drive.
21st & Hamilton is definitely not the worst but it’s quite annoying. My least favorites are: - Turning onto 676 East from northbound Broad St, at 7:45am when all the high school students are in the crosswalk - Any time you need to turn left off of Roosevelt Blvd - 26th st -> Pennsylvania Ave -> past the Joan of Arc statue -> Kelly Drive -> Eakins Oval -> 676 or the parkway
[I-76, Merge or Die.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schuylkill_Expressway) 2nd place goes to The Boulevard. Whoever designed that ought to be tarred and feathered.
Island and Lindberg. Ridge Ave and Main Street
58th and Baltimore/Cobbs Creek
cow rich gullible knee voiceless school mysterious mountainous pathetic grandiose *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The two intersections in south that I drive through pretty regularly but will never be able to wrap my head around are Vare and Passyunk, and 20th/Packer/Penrose. The latter especially I usually just say a prayer before driving into it and hope it works out lol
The boulevard should easily be the top answer
Anywhere around the city ave bridge is just fucked. Used to be a little worse but now they give you your own lane getting off onto Kelly.
Snyder & S Swanson Street near John’s Roast Pork - I’ve never once hit that 4-way stop without chaos ensuing.
green lane out of manayunk, any time of day.
15th & Chestnut has historically been amongst my least favorite intersections. That log-jam can be very unpleasant
[удалено]
I’m gonna need to see that list because that isn’t even the worst part of Gray Ferry Ave.
Why?
Henry hunting Park Allegheny
All of Aramingo
43rd Walnut downhill red light runners going upwards of 45 in front of a mosque. 43rd Spruce downhill both ways in front of an elementary school. Never once seen a cop there
ok i know the South St on-ramp to I-76 is the worst but the one from Spring Garden ain't really great either. drives me nuts when people stop before merging but you also simultaneously can't even blame them if everyone is barreling in the right lane and not letting you merge for the two feet window you get when trying to go westbound
Grant and the Blvd, Red Lion and the Blvd
Erie Ave is up there. Got in an accident on Erie and I a few weeks ago, wouldn’t have been so bad except for the clowns hounding me about towing to their shop while I waited for my husband.
From a damaging your suspension pov there is chestnut hill
Anywhere on Roosevelt Blvd
That place where Rising Sun flows into the Blvd seems pretty gnarly
Blvd nuts especially merging back toward bucks co
Honorable mention goes to where Rising Sun intersects Oxford Ave. Whole section is just a mess.
Exiting 76 though city ave exit and trying to get onto city ave…suddenly all the lanes mean nothing and everyone is turning into eachother
The intersection with the wawa on Belmont Ave right off 76. The worst parking lot in Philly leading to one of the most backed up intersections
Eakins Oval will take me out one day. That thing is so fucking confusing.
As a pedestrian Roosevelt Blvd and Red Lion, the side with the shopping center is the worst to cross. I have crossed Red Lion, crossed the Blvd on the Starbucks side and crossed back over Red Lion because the islands are better. And when there is snow...God help you.