Whenever those lists measuring cities’ advantages, benefits and general livability are released, Madison is usually ranked near the top.

We’re regularly heralded as exceptional across any number of categories — the best place for recent college grads to live, the best city for parks, the healthiest, the happiest. The list goes on and on. We’ve even been ranked at the top of lists for having the best-tasting water.

But there’s one major area where Madison falls short: traffic. The Beltline Highway — which was built to ease congestion and route traffic around the city instead of through it — is often clogged with cars. If you’re traveling toward or away from downtown, our two beautiful lakes provide not only scenic views but also a number of opportunities for bottlenecked, stop-and-go traffic — and headaches — along the isthmus. We simply have too many vehicles and not enough roads.

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(Photo credit: Larry Chua/Madison Magazine)