Slow Highways

  • Thread starter Thread starter LoudMusic
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LoudMusic

LoudMusic

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So I'm on my way to work this morning, and just after I pass an exit for an alternate route I come around a bend and the cars in front of me are sitting still. No apparent movement. So I jump on the next exit (just a few hundred yards) to double back around to the previous exit. Well, there are about 80 or so other people who have the same idea, so we've not gained much imediatedly. As I'm sitting there I notice what's going on.

A police car and a construction vehicle were blocking both lanes. I thought it was an accident, but they were actually moving. As they crawled along I peered up the highway. It was empty as far as I could see. My girlfriend checked the highway webcams for me and found no evidence of construction, or wreckage or ... anything. Just open highway.

Judging by the refresh rate and length of vehicles, I'd say they making 50 feet per 8 seconds at this point. To my calculation that is less than 5 miles per hour, or 8 kilometers per hour. In just a moment's time thousands of people were backedup crawling 5mph for a ten mile stretch. I'm sure there was something up there, but there were no signs, no radio messages, and no apparent cause for this. I feel sorry for anyone who waited it out.
 

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california sucks too, well most of the time. Especially if you don't live there and dont get one of the speed pass things. oh well i guess you could put the plate in the window and remove it before you enter the speed lane :)

the speed lane is like 2 or 3 lanes that charge you everytime you drive by using a chip on your dash/window, no chip and the cameras take a pic and send you a ticket..
 
I actually have a 35 mile drive to work, so the chances of a wreck or construction are fairly decent. But in New York City they're only trying to get 10 miles from home to work. The cool thing about big cities is mass transit. Arkansas ... well our biggest city is like 250,000 so there's no push for mass transit. Our city buses are rare and have infrequent schedules. There are no trains. The taxi services are almost non-existant.

I've spent two vacations in Chicago, each about a week long. We took trains everywhere and it was marvelous. I could really go for that here, but it won't happen, unfortunately.
 
Nope. The website said nothing of it other than there would be construction from 9am to 6pm, which is what's been going on for about 8 months.
 
A lot of times when they do that, they just need to move some big piece of equipment, or do something that just takes 10 minutes worth of work. It's not as difficult as coning off one lane for a short period of time, and the backup dissipates more quickly.
 
LoudMusic, basic explanation. Cops suck. They always halt progress on motor ways, so I'm not surprised at all, that a cop was in front of it all.
 
Maybe there was some top secret project with super cool ray guns with flashy lights that went horribly wrong and yea you make up the rest.

I moved recently and where I used to live Wellington, public transport was the best ever, I took a bus and a train to school and it was very well organised and managed. In Auckland public transport sucks, infrequent trains etc, so my parents expect me to use it to get to school, I doubt I'll ever get there.
 
LA takes the cake for mass transit worthlessness. We have a terrible bus system and a subway that doesn't go anywhere.
 
Originally posted by Klostrophobic
Just think: it's like that constantly in New York City. I'm glad I don't live there.
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No it isn't. Traffic moves more here than any place in the world, and quicker - the reason New Yorkers tend to get angry at tourists is because they want to drive as if there are lanes and speed limits, when there are none of either in lower Manhattan.

I'd bet it's worse in Boston, James, because you've got highways and main streets which everybody travels on. Atlanta, too, and Seattle, LA, San Francisco, Dallas, etc. have it much worse than New York City.

Nope. The website said nothing of it other than there would be construction from 9am to 6pm, which is what's been going on for about 8 months.
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Maybe there was a dog on the highway.
 
When I traveled through NY it was like a big ****ing parking lot. I'd never seen anything like it. Boston traffic isn't unbarable. But then again I can't say I've traveled into the city during rush hour very often.
 
The only thing I have to say about Boston traffic is that the most terrifying driver with whom I ever rode moved to Boston and was right at home.

New Yorkers are aggressively obnoxious, but they know to the inch how much room their car takes up. Boston drivers just don't give a flip. It's your problem, not theirs, if you're worried about it.
 
The worst drivers have to be in Quebec. They don't follow any rules. Left side of the road, right side of the road, whatever works.

And the pedestrians are just as worse. They walk in the middle of the street like effing idiots.
 
traffic sucks ass.......especially here in riverside, where the F'in idiots cant drive worth a damn........i swear not a day has gone by where i didnt hear somebody screech and crash or see it.

you guys got it easy:banghead:
 
Originally posted by LoudMusic
I actually have a 35 mile drive to work, so the chances of a wreck or construction are fairly decent. But in New York City they're only trying to get 10 miles from home to work. The cool thing about big cities is mass transit. Arkansas ... well our biggest city is like 250,000 so there's no push for mass transit. Our city buses are rare and have infrequent schedules. There are no trains. The taxi services are almost non-existant.

I've spent two vacations in Chicago, each about a week long. We took trains everywhere and it was marvelous. I could really go for that here, but it won't happen, unfortunately.
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I complain here in Sydney, about the public transport but then I realise it takes me about 45 minutes to get home on a good day and then i think of the ppl who hafta drive and Im happy to sit with a coke or snack or paper and wait half an hour for a bus.
 
Originally posted by ALPHA
Maybe there was some top secret project with super cool ray guns with flashy lights that went horribly wrong and yea you make up the rest.

I moved recently and where I used to live Wellington, public transport was the best ever, I took a bus and a train to school and it was very well organised and managed. In Auckland public transport sucks, infrequent trains etc, so my parents expect me to use it to get to school, I doubt I'll ever get there.
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What school are you planning on going to?

We already know that the transport problem here is big, the council sucks, blame them.
 

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