Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Being Stuck In A Traffic Jam Trying To Head North On Loop 820 Aggravated Me

I headed north out of here, on Loop 820, a half hour before noon, heading to Hurst.

Of late 820 has been being re-paved. This results in HUGE traffic jams. Up til today I could tell, before getting on the freeway, if the north or southbound lanes were being jammed.

This morning it looked like 820 northbound was good to go. I got on the freeway, got past the Randol Mill overpass and then saw the traffic in jam mode ahead of me.

Slowed to a crawl. Down to one lane just past Trinity Boulevard.

It is a universal woe wherever I've been in a traffic jam. Here, Southern California, Washington. It seems if people would just use a little common sense. Leave a space so the lanes can easily merge, then bad traffic jams would not develop.

In the case of re-paving 820, why are they not doing this at night? Or better yet, just close the section of freeway being worked on, with plenty of warning signs telling drivers to take an alternative route.

One of things I like about driving in the D/FW Metroplex is if one route gets jammed, it is usually very easy to find an alternative route.

Traffic jams in Washington, particularly in Seattle, are a much bigger pain than traffic jams in the D/FW Metroplex. In Seattle it is not as easy to take alternative routes. Unlike here, there are not broad, freeway-like boulevards that you can easily use if I-5 stops moving. There are no 3 lane frontage roads on both sides of the freeway.

Anyway, today was the first time in a long time I found myself in a freeway traffic jam. The plus side of this was I saw all sorts of billboards I don't usually notice. I now know where to get my next lapband surgery, how to get high school slim, that the food bank is giving school kids breakfast, that McDonald's has a new coffee concoction and I forget what else.

I don't know if I am in the mood to go do some tardy Tandy hill hiking or not. If I don't the endorphin deficit is going to wreak havoc with my good mood.

1 comment:

Arty Katz said...

Hey, Durango, the app I'm developing and trying to get funding for might have helped you and others during your commute yesterday. Check it out, and maybe share it with your followers: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arty/goroundit-an-app-to-end-all-traffic-jams

Thanks in advance!