Worst Streets During Rush Hour in Tri-Cities, Washington

Surely you've noticed an uptick in traffic in the Tri-Cities in recent years.

It's no secret: the Tri-Cities region is rapidly growing. Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland grew by a combined 40,000 people since the 2010 census. That's just the big three. Who knows when it's going to slow down.

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People move here for good jobs, they also move here to raise their families or to retire. When I grew up in Iowa, people were always leaving, so this is a pretty wild concept to me.

What are the downsides of living in a growing community?

I'm going to state the obvious: it's traffic, traffic, traffic. I used to be able to plot a perfect route to skip dense roads and left turns. Now it's a crapshoot every time I fasten my seatbelt. You're almost forced to take the Blue Bridge from Pasco to Kennewick because the Cable Bridge is backed up at the same time as the Blue. If you live in Richland, you better learn how to fly.

But there are some areas that absolutely trump the rest. These are the areas you have to avoid like the plague during peak traffic hours if you're afforded the opportunity.

These are the Worst Areas to Drive in Tri-Cities, Washington

As Tri-Cities continues to grow, the need for bigger and better roads becomes more apparent. You'll see some obvious areas to avoid during rush hour commute traffic as well as some other areas to consider. Avoid these areas if you can during peak driving hours.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

LOOK: Here is the richest town in each state

Just saying the names of these towns immediately conjures up images of grand mansions, luxury cars, and ritzy restaurants. Read on to see which town in your home state took the title of the richest location and which place had the highest median income in the country. Who knows—your hometown might even be on this list.