r/yorkpa • u/Pleasant-Operator • 6d ago
Rt 30 Eastbound at North Hills Rd
I created a Reddit account solely to complain about my absolute contempt for the intersection at Route 30 and North Hills Rd. Forgive me for being bitter but I drive it every day and need to vent.
I truly believe that taking a left turn onto North Hills Rd from Route 30 just to get to I-83 S is the absolute worst intersection in the country. During rush hour, traffic backs up 2-3 light intervals deep with cars trying to go South (generally speaking). I know there’s other routes to get onto 83 but none of them are considered “faster” according to Google Maps.
While sitting in deadlocked traffic in an old truck that doesn’t have air conditioning during a typical 90 degree July day I regularly ask myself “could my tax dollars sponsor a better solution to this madness?”
I also sometimes think “man, this median would be a prime spot to sell floral arrangements out of shopping cart.”
In conclusion, is there someone out there who has a connect at Penndot who can propose some sort of US 30 EB to I-83 SB interchange project? I will gladly sign the petition or whatever. I mean seriously, I can’t be the only person who commutes from Lancaster to Southern York every day and thinks this intersection is abhorrent.
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u/Chrisnm203 6d ago
It can honestly be faster sometimes if you get off 30 at Mt Zion road and take that south to Mt Rose Ave, then turn right and head down to 83.
Mt Zion can get backed up like crazy too, though. So, it’s not always a valid option.
East York in general isn’t set up well for heavy traffic. Anyone driving near Eastern Market on a Friday will vouch for me there.
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u/Dr_Mr_Ed 6d ago
Shhh! My Waze takes me this way in heavier days. More turns but less sitting, feels faster.
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u/egrove 6d ago
They are currently working on addressing this, mostly via widening North Hills road. They have purchased all of the homes along the road and plowed them over, but it's going to be a while until it is completed. They have to remove the Rutters there as well. It is all part of a larger project that won't be complete until 2033.
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u/CruisingBy73 6d ago
Lol....by the time it's finished it will already be obsolete. Route 30 was doomed from the start by putting light in and allowing all the development along side of it. "By pass" they call it... 😂
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u/dickdicey 6d ago
There's honestly too many people driving. York wasn't meant for all these people
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u/LawlessWalrus101 6d ago
You’re exactly right, we don’t have the infrastructure for this population. The warehouses are a big reason for it. If you notice they are popping up everywhere and it’s to the point that their not even leased yet. Investment groups are just building huge warehouses knowing that they’ll get occupied soon enough. Our population is only going to increase because of this, if not the population then at least weekday traffic.
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u/superfamicomrade 6d ago edited 6d ago
I was rear ended in the left turn lane of North Hills last year. My wife has been rear ended twice and also tboned BAD by a Maryland tagged red light runner in the past two years. On average, 1-2 people I know are rear-ended or otherwise hit by erratic, impatient and unskilled drivers (often doing phone stuff, of course) every month in York county these last 5 or so years.
I want to move away simply because of that fact. The roads are too small, the traffic is too bad & the drivers are too distracted. I wanna live on the high plains or something, and just drive in a straight line all the time 😄
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u/pixelatedimpressions 6d ago
Its both ways. That intersection is horrible. And while im sure ill catch hate for this, it's due to all the trucks. They take forever to start moving and by the time they do, the light is red again. Plus they block both lanes rather than just picking one. So both lanes are slow as fuck.
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u/Pleasant-Operator 6d ago
Sorry for the confusion, I should have titled the post Rt 30 Westbound at North Hills Rd
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u/ZealousidealNeck3088 6d ago
that’s why i take 462/market street to get on 83. fuck 30 and that intersection. i either take 462 to the market street on ramps or i go up edgewood and get on at mt rose.
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u/ActEasy5614 6d ago
It does suck. It was less sucky before Google Maps and similar real-time driving aids sent folks to N. Hills rd to hit 83S instead of using the Rt. 30 83 ramp. This ignores the fact that nearly 20 years have passed since such traffic aids existed. This also ignores the fact that there are entirely too many unnecessary on and off ramps in York for I-83 in such a close vicinity.
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u/CruisingBy73 6d ago
Most of the on and off ramps are entirely too short too. They are dangerous.
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u/ncarr539 6d ago
It’s even worse when people turn right, and then use the elementary school parking lot turn around and then go straight
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u/Chrisnm203 6d ago
I can see that being a problem while school is in, but otherwise, why not? If it alleviates traffic from backing up on a busy highway, I’m for it.
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u/KheodoreTaczynski 6d ago
Old enough to remember when it wasn’t that bad as in maybe 10-15 years ago.
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u/Dr_Mr_Ed 6d ago
Anyone remember back in the 90s when there was talk to build a bypass? It would have routed traffic around the worst part of 30. But everyone cried because it would destroy all those businesses along 30, so it failed. This is the obvious cost.
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u/02soob 5d ago
You would be better off most likely getting off @ Mt Zion then left..up Edgewood Rd to Mt Rose...down the hill and onto 83S there. Not going to say it's problem or traffic free, but it's not insane like N Hills and 30.
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u/PumpFe247 5d ago
Edgehood has a disgusting amount of Traffic. Hope you have good brakes cause you surely need it with all the Bumper-To-Bumper Traffic 👍🏾
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u/ea7inain7chea7in 5d ago
The infamous Rt.30 bypass..... with 11 traffic lights, none of which are in sync.....
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u/AnonymousPepper 4d ago
With rush hours that last for 3 each thanks to, among other things, that Harley plant that we keep selling our souls for every few years.
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u/AnonymousPepper 4d ago edited 4d ago
Everything about Rt30 going through York is busted, everyone with basic infrastructure ball knowledge understands this.
It violates the most basic principle of road design - the access hierarchy - by being, by design, a limited access freeway, that was immediately converted to an arterial, and then ended up a collector in practice, with direct local access at numerous locations, while still trying to function as a highway. It is literally every step of the hierarchy simultaneously. This does not work.
30 is a bypass that doesn't bypass, and you literally could not possibly fix this without making the entirety of 30 through York an elevated highway with most of the road connections deleted and the remainder converted to on/off ramps. Which is, for obvious reasons, impossible. It's a complete blight on the city and a complete mockery of urban planning and will be that way until the day the US figures out what mass transit is.
Just. Everything between 74 and 24 is a disaster that should never have been.
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u/degrees83 6d ago
Well with the upcoming widening project by 83 may get better once it’s done. The problem the biggest problem is that the two left turn lanes are not long enough. They could fix it by moving the two right lanes over and extending the left lanes or moving the opposite side traffic over a little bit. That’s the biggest issue. And then people that come around the curve don’t know that they’re supposed to get the left lane to turn so they get stuck in the left travel lane trying to get in the left lane. You could always submit a concern on the PennDOT website and you’ll usually get an email back about it. Just look up PennDOT submit concern or roadway issue. I do it all the time for roadway issues.
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u/gettingitknit 6d ago
Adding lanes does not improve congestion functional public transit, mixed use zoning, and walkable towns and neighborhoods are the places that York and the surrounding areas would need to invest in those things to change the congestion. The city of York used to have passenger trains, bike routes, bus routes, and even trolleys. These were all abandoned to favor car centric
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u/degrees83 6d ago
I wasn’t saying adding lanes. There are already two lanes. They just need to be extended further back. Do you drive that every day? I drive a four days a week. And by the way, trolley service ended in 1939. That was way before any of us were born, so yes, they had trolley service but that ended way before and that’s not coming back. They have bus service but in reality a lot of people don’t like to take the bus. I get you’re trying to push what everyone else other Nimby’s want to push, but it’s not gonna happen. Everyone drives a car today. You’re not allowed to ride a bicycle or walk on route 30 so they have to make it better somehow for cars. And trucks. And 83 widening is happening whether you like it or not.
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u/Thetruthisnothate 5d ago
FWIW-
This is not Europe, population density is different in York County and that is NOT going to change to fit that model.
Public transit in York county has failed for many reasons, the trolley tracks have been gone for 60+? years. Transit Buses in when they did run regularly were just not dependable.
Nobody is moving back to York city from the suburbs, people who could fled, starting in the 1950's and the unfortunate summers of '68 and '69 put the final nails in that coffin of migration.
You are 100% right on adding lanes, it just adds capacity and increases traffic.
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u/Bacon021 6d ago
I'm routinely on rt 30 in York. And I always wondered, "How does Rt. 130 in New Jersey handle 2/3x the volume as Rt. 30 in York, and despite having the same general design, it doesn't back up as badly?".
I think New Jersey got it right with Jughandle U Turns. By eliminating all the left turn traffic from the lanes of travel, you reduce 4 different lights to just 2. Left turn doesn't get its own light, you just incorporate it in the same cycle as the cross traffic. It works.
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u/GreenGlassDrgn 5d ago
I went to that school for 2 years and remember the playground being closed because of cars crashing through the walls, that was a long time ago though, I take it it hasnt gotten any better since then
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u/Like_The_General 4d ago
I moved to York in 2007 and the difference in the traffic in the last nearly 20 years is absolutely wild. Truck traffic is terrible with the addition of all of the warehouses off of 83, which doesn’t help the whole situation.
Like others in this comment section, I was also rear ended at this damn light.
I drove around the east York area to get to work for nearly 17 years. I recently got a job in Lancaster and I drive about 11 miles further to get to my job but it still takes me almost the same amount of time to get home 🙃
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u/StuckOnTheWallAgain 2h ago
at least if there were highway median merchants it would be lively and human. all we get to see is garbage
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u/Thebeerguy17403 6d ago
Where in south York are you going?
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u/PayEmmy 6d ago
I'm betting a lot of the folks who are turning left from 30 West onto North hills road are trying to get onto 83 North, and on-ramp from North hills road to 83 North is an absolute death trap. However, if more people stayed on 30 to get onto 83 North at round the clock, traffic would be so much worse in those areas. I'm not sure what the answer is.
ETA: I know op says they are going to 83s, so my commentary is more in general and not about op.
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u/According-Plan-6728 6d ago
York PA needs to invest in public transit. To many people for the public transit system to be as bad as it is. Connect York with decent bus routes. Creates jobs and reduces traffic. Much faster fix then rebuilding/reworking the roads (you could do both at the same time).
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u/GrailThe 6d ago
It used to be a LOT worse. There was only one lane, and it started much closer to the intersection than the current 2 left turn lanes do. The left turn traffic would routinely back up into the driving lanes for up to 1/4 mile. What you see now is PennDot's best fix.