The 9 Worst-Designed Cities in the US

While pretty much any urban homo can bitch about traffic in their city , or the occasional despicable skyscraper , not everyone can put claim to living in one of themost poorly planned city in the domain . But like David Hasselhoff ’s popularity , pathetic metropolis plan knows no international border .

To get a sense of the scale of measurement of urban catastrophe unfold in our own country , we asked several urban planners to highlight the flaws of some of America ’s biggest offenders . If life is what happens when you ’re in use making other plan , this is what happens when you do n’t make plans . Or at least good ones .

9. Missoula

Missoula ’s street grid seems moderately normal at first … until you zero in on the Rose Hill neighborhood near the University of Montana and remark that , for some ground , all of its route dead dislodge to a 45 - degree angle . This part of town , nickname the “ Slants Streets ” neighborhood , is the result of a dispute in the 1890s when two competing gridiron systems were being build simultaneously . The Slants Streets neighborhood , which hoped to split up away into its own town , lost the battle and was swallowed up by the residuum of the city ’s more traditional grid system . The anomaly is something of a legend in urban - provision circles , but when it comes to truly poorly planned cities in America , we ’re just getting lead off .

8. New Orleans

misfortunate urban preparation does n’t just make ugly cities and dealings congestion . In the case of New Orleans , as everyone get word during Hurricane Katrina , the results can be mortal . Due to the city ’s location below sea level on one of the largest rivers in the country ( and in a hurricane - prostrate area ) , New Orleans was always go to be presented with a unparalleled set of challenges . And while the failure of the levees was the master culprit behind the 2005 disaster that take over 1,200 lifetime and $ 100 billion in damage , it ’s gruelling not to argue that good planning could have saved life .

7. Orlando

fit in to a study from Smart Growth America , an organisation that tracks pedestrian fatalities , Orlando is the most dangerous city for footer in America . Other than the business district area , there is no control grid system of rules in this sprawl city of interstate highway and confused tourists look for Mickey Mouse who have no idea where the ass they ’re going . utter of highways , the city ’s master Interstate 4 artery is in the thick of a massive $ 2.3 billion building overhaul that ’s not expect to be completed until 2021 . The serious news ? you may be one of just 3,700 average day-to-day riders who take Orlando ’s new SunRail commuter train rail system into study . Either that or work from domicile for the next five years .

6. Washington DC

While Pierre Charles L’Enfant has taken a passel of shit for his original design of the capital metropolis , and while there remains a popular rumor that the metropolis ’s traffic circles were designed to fuddle invading ground forces , Washington DC itself is actually a very well - planned city . And while it may not be the promiscuous to sail , the city gains points for a well - officiate public transit system that is one of the most extremely used in the res publica . The job is that the metropolis was not design to stand firm its massive growth across waterways and land line into the fence suburbs , with misfortunate planning and sprawl in its exterior suburb creatingthe worst traffic in the country , harmonize to a 2015 Urban Mobility Scorecard ( yes , worse than LA ) . The typical DC commuter spends an average of 82 extra hours behind the wheel each yr due to dealings delays , costing $ 1,834 per yr in excess fuel and fall back productivity .

5. Los Angeles

speak of LA , here are some fun facts : 1 ) half of the 20 worst roadstead for dealings are in metro Los Angeles . 2 ) It has the nation ’s longest rush hour , with route congested for nearlyeight hoursin a typical day . And 3 ) 73 % of its roads are in hapless status , resulting in a “ pothole tax ” of $ 1,044 per year , per driver in fomite deterioration and increased fuel / maintenance costs . While the sprawling urban center of 13 million hoi polloi was clear designed solely with the great American motorcar in mind , there is skilful news as of late . Local functionary make out the problem and are working to do something about it , as therecent expansion of its public transportation system system to Santa Monica(with plan to extend to LAX by 2023 ) indicates . LA’spublic transit system also remains reprehensively look across , even though it ’ll still take you hours to commute from one end of the blame city to the other .

4. Pittsburgh

Navigating the Fort Pitt Bridge into town want drivers to cover three lanes of traffic in 300 ft just to forfend escape their issue , a hair - produce enactment of origination for local so notorious it has spawned its ownInternet meme . lend to that a highway run through the Downtown , another highway blocking the waterfront , an unequal tunnel organisation , and a bottlenecked and decaying bridge system ( 30 of its 446 bridges were listed as “ deficient ” in a study by Transportation for America , the high number in the country ) and you have all the elements of a classic urban - planning incubus – where getting from one part of townsfolk to the other is essentially impossible at times . On the plus side , Pittsburgh has themost BAR per capita in the country . perchance there ’s a correlation .

3. Atlanta

Can a street intersect with itself ? In the case of Atlanta ’s notorious Peachtree , somehow the reply is yes . concord to Wikipedia , there are71 streetsin Atlanta with some random variable of Peachtree in their name ( some of which intersect with each other ) , which totally is n’t confusing or anything . Throw in clog dealings ( especially where major highways I-75 and I-85 converge just as you direct into Downtown ) , an inadequate public passage organisation , and a handful of unconnected , haphazardly planned population centers and there ’s practically an urban - provision clusterfuck waiting around every corner . Little - known fact : MARTA actually is the best public transportation system in the Southeast . Not that that ’s say much .

2. Boston

While Boston is a beautiful city and a victim of condition stem from its roots as one of America ’s oldest , that does n’t apologize the fact that navigating the billet remains a full shitshow . Unlike LA , the urban center was designed for carriages , not car – with its narrow , winding route built along Native American cows and gymnastic horse trail . This type of design , while common in Europe , is far outside the average in the US … and it depict . contrive in theworst drivers in the country , aggressive jaywalker , and traffic light source that are more like suggestions , and you ’ll be begging to take the Green Line . Even though the Green Line absolutely sucks , especially if the Sox are playing at home . And while the Big Dig projection improved the situation in many ways ( yes , it used to be worse ) , the project ’s $ 22 billion terms shred wo n’t be paid off until 2038 . Hopefully by then , you ’ll be able-bodied to ride your hoverboard into work .

1. Houston

Houston ’s notable deficiency of zoning laws creates some odd bedfellow , such as anadult bookstore next to a department store next to a skyscraper . But local love the fact that Houston remain the only major American city without zoning laws , having scorn effort to impose them at the vote box seat on several occasions . Yet the urban center does operate within a myriad of regulations like land - use of goods and services laws that create the essence of zoning , just without using the dreaded “ Z - word of honor . ”

While the occasional eyesore contributes to the less - than - visually likable ( some would say horrifying ) aesthetic of the city , the genuine problem is the city ’s lack of comprehensive preparation , which results in evolution decision being made without proper examination of their impacts to the neighborhoods as a whole . This hodgepodge approach conflate with long commute times and poor public transit has health effect as well , with Houston traditionally ranked as the fattest city the US ( although that title has now been lost to Shreveport , LA ) . So hey , maybe things are looking up .

Los angeles at night cityscape and traffic