The 10 Scariest Roads in Phoenix

There are quite a few roads in Phoenix that are beautiful, relaxing, and just plain fun to drive.

The streets we're about to mention are not these streets — in fact, the thorughfares around Phoenix that we're about to describe are no fun to drive. Indeed, they're just plain terrifying!

10.) Seventh Street/Seventh Avenue
Yes, the home of Phoenix's "suicide lanes." The number of crashes in these reversible center lanes are relatively low for how much hate they get, but we've all seen many an illiterate dumb-ass trying to make a turn in a lane where oncoming traffic is coming at 40 mph or more. We say illiterate because signs every couple of blocks remind drivers that the lanes can't be turned from during rush hours.

9.) Tatum Boulevard
We're talking about the Paradise Valley stretch of Tatum here. Given town officials' fetish for photo-radar enforcement, it's impossible to enjoy a drive down this road without constantly looking over your shoulder for cops — or keeping an eye out for radar vans and trying to remember where all the permanent radar  cameras are located. Plus, your chances of getting into an accident with some crotchety geezer in a $350,000 Rolls Royce are, like, 1,000 times higher on this section of the boulevard. 

8.) McDowell Road It's not the Scottsdale stretch we're talking about here, because if you look at Phoenix PD's crime maps, you'll see McDowell Road between 16th and 24th streets has "very high" levels of violent crimes. Just sayin'. . .

7.) Any One-Way Street Downtown
Repeat loudly after me: IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT! If you've spent any time downtown at all, you've surely seen some moron's headlights racing right toward you on a one-way street. Really, how hard is this to figure out? Very, considering the number of collisions downtown.

6.) Apache Trail
If you want a bad mix, combine an unpaved road with elderly tourists. That's Apache Trail, which in all fairness is quite a bit east of Phoenix proper, but it deserves mention. It's a helluva fun drive when it's just you and your Subaru on the scenic trail at 5 a.m., but when the snowbirds start their first "off-road" adventures, be prepared for some white-knuckle driving.


5.) 59th Avenue

For whatever reason, the intersection of 59th Avenue and Olive Avenue (just outside Glendale Community College) is ranked as the most dangerous intersection in metro Phoenix, with the most serious crashes. And we're not talking about for just one year — its held this title for many years running.

4.) Indian School Road
Not only is Indian School Road another "very high" violent crime area, it's also a popular place to find some bozo walking down the middle of this extremely busy road. Dateline NBC did a feature several years ago on American streets where pedestrians get killed often, and Indian School Road got a special mention after a couple dozen bodies were scraped off the pavement in just five years.

3.) 16th Street
Well, 16th Street gets a special mention just for what happened this month. In a little more than 24 hours, there was a drive-by shooting, a murder, and another drive-by shooting all on or extremely close to 16th. (All of these were very close to McDowell Road, too.) 

2.) Baseline Road
This one's easy. There never was a "Camelback Road Killer," you know, along this high-crime stretch of concrete. Plus, despite the serial killer that once roamed it killing women, Baseline Road's just lined with ugliness.

1.) Interstate 10
You guessed it — we have to say a roadway where some jackass shot at people at random (and so did his copycats) deserves the title of the scariest road in Phoenix. Not only that, but there are accidents on I-10 everywhere. There's almost always a crash near downtown during any commute, and the stretches of the interstate both east and west of the city routinely are cited as among the most dangerous stretches of  U.S. highway.