‘Terrified me since birth’: What’s the worst highway in the Valley?

Speeding drivers. Constant lane and exit closures. Wonky off-ramps: All make driving the Valley’s freeways a white-knuckle experience.

But which Phoenix area highway is the worst?

Heading into Thanksgiving, it's a question one Phoenix Redditor attempted to answer. That user’s post has generated nearly 200 comments of spirited discussion about the craziness of riding the Valley’s freeway system.

At least one person suggested State Route 347, which runs south from Interstate 10 through the town of Maricopa and the Ak-Chin Indian Community. Another submitted SR 24, which runs by Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. A third suggested a better-traveled airport highway: SR 143, which runs between Loop 202 and I-10 and cuts through Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

But, as would be expected, the favorites — least favorites? — were the big ones. Maricopa County’s two major interstates, I-10 and Interstate 17, earned heaps of scorn.

One user likened the 17 — no one calls it “Black Canyon Freeway” — to the “Mad Max” movie franchise: “Narrow lanes, torn up roads, craziest drivers.” Many consider the highway, known for the distinctive weed smell of the Durango Curve, to be a death trap.

“I just hate the fact there’s really no shoulder for most of the freeway,” one user wrote. “I feel like I’d get killed if I ever blew a tire.”

“Absolutely the I-17,” another chimed in. “That freeway has terrified me since birth.”

Users also labeled the 10 as “literally a death trap,” though much of the discussion about the nation’s fourth-longest highway concerned the annoyance of a city commute. Valley residents offered many suggestions about which stretches of I-10 to avoid. You can take their advice by circumventing:

• the stretch west of downtown Phoenix
• the “worst stretch” in the tunnel between Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street
• the always-congested eastbound exits onto SR 51 and the 202

“I’ll take anything but the 10,” one user said. “Fuck the 10.”

Disdain for the 10 and 17 was dominant, but other notable Phoenix highways had their haters. One user called the 51 “a free-for-all in driving styles and speeds.” Another christened U.S. Route 60 as the “rock on windshield epicenter of Arizona.” Others suggested that there’s not a single good highway in the entire state.

One user disagreed, though. It’s not the highways that are the problem but instead the drivers. If you see assholes on every roadway, then maybe the asshole is … you?

More than one Phoenix Redditor seemed to have at least that much self-awareness.

“Usually,” one wrote, “it’s just whichever one I’m on at the moment.”