Boise’s Traffic Ranks Among Worst In Nation

When I was growing up right here in the Treasure Valley, things were pretty different--and it wasn't even that long ago!  I was a Nampa kid that went to Bishop Kelly High School in Boise.  That meant I had a commute. each morning--be it by the Nampa Bishop Kelly commuter bus or if sports were in session, I was driving. I had that commute down to an art. If you got on the I-84 at 6:59 a.m. it was smooth sailing. If you were getting on the I-84 at about 7:03 a.m. or later... you were going to be late--true story! Back when, as the locals will tell you, "there was hardly anything built next to the freeway!"

As years have gone by (and by the way, it's only been 8 years since I graduated Bishop Kelly), traffic has gotten progressively worse and honestly, I had no idea.  I live super close to my office here at the radio station and so do my friends. Stores are close, restaurants are close, and even nightlife (when it was a thing) is super close. All it took was one drive on the freeway around 4:30 p.m. for me to quickly realize that the "traffic" that I thought was bad back in the day simply isn't near what we see now.

According to a recent survey, traffic congestion is actually among the worst in the nation. That's right-- here in BOISE.

The survey conducted by TomTom (yes, the GPS company) has Boise ranked 16th in worst traffic congestion. This is out of the entire country. Believe it or not, we're actually just 9% away from Los Angeles. Congestion, according to TomTom is WORSE than in Atlanta, Chicago and even Boston.