North Lamar Blvd, Highland

Lamar Boulevard stretches nearly the entire North/South length of Austin. It's a great main thoroughfare to take if you're not into getting on the highway. Driving down Lamar will take you past UT, past the Whole Foods flagship store, and into the heart of South Austin. There are lots of Austin landmarks to see along the way.

Lamar is often a good alternative to Guadalupe, as they run parallel, but both streets are plagued by bad traffic. Lamar is especially bad down near Waterloo Records (worth facing the traffic for by the way), where cars get stuck in a bottleneck trying to get across the river. The road runs for a long ways and is home to a ton of great shops, but if you hit it at the wrong time of the day, you will be sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. Handy street to use at off hours, but avoid during rush hour.