It is, but less so on the East Coast. Not enough to make the point irrelevant, but enough to complicate the generality some. Like, if you're going north from so

It is, but less so on the East Coast. Not enough to make the point irrelevant, but enough to complicate the generality some. Like, if you're going north from southern New England, for example, you're probably taking I-93 straight through the city. Which is a lot better than it used to be thanks to the Big Dig (which gets so much bad press but really is a great example of an infrastructure project that did, eventually, work), but is still not pleasant, and it's because taking 95 (or, further out, 495) all-the-way-around is as significant detour.