our traffic sucks. i've lived here my entire life minus the time i spent at IU, and it has never been great. if you're going to be living in the city and closest surrounding suburbs, then the metro system is the most logical choice. they're working on improving the rail cars and they've just replaced a lot of the buses. one key word to navigating the city during most hours if you're going to have a car... GRIDLOCK!
i think the worst part of the traffic is getting out of the city rather than navigating within it.