#GrumpyOldMan
i feel for the people who have a traffic nightmare everyday.
the bay area freeways are the pits. Bumper to bumper at two miles an hour...and then there is a wreck
hours later...still there...
Moar bandwidth plz
Me! Two separate fatal accidents occurred in one day just blocks from where I live. This just happened the other day. I heard the sirens and helicopters both times.
Traffic in general is a nightmare and it can take 30 minutes just to go a few miles around here. I'm ready to move.
Me.
Where I am the traffic is nothing except in the Winter. The snowbirds start coming in about November and then the traffic gets worse. They leave about mid April.
People don't have to live in places like that. I should just be quiet. I don't want my area growing too much. :)
Don't wait. People put up with all of that for a lifetime and move when they retire and realize they should have made the move years before.
Hello Mr. Bromide
Living in the Bay Area I know how bad traffic can get here. Fortunately I live in an area here where the biggest impediment is the bicyclist's that come here to ride our road's, or the occasional accident that will shut down the roads.
Most days I only see a few cars on my way out. My commute is usually traffic free
Yup. The Bay Area is the worst. It took me 3 hours to get from Davis to Fremont a few days ago (it should take less than an hour and a half on a good day). That's pathetic.
Another Bay Area person :D I'm in Sacramento and frequently travel between the Bay Area and here and the traffic there is a nightmare, just as bad as L.A. on some days.
The traffic in the Sacramento area is never too bad, but I frequently go between the Valley and the Bay Area, and the traffic in the Bay is a nightmare.
I live in the bay area as well, on the peninsula..
I have family in Modesto, I wont even attempt to drive there during the day..even going against traffic it is a nightmare, and 580 through Livermore/ Pleasanton has got to be the worst stretch of freeway anywhere..
Hello Nevan..
I am up in a town called Woodside. It is in the hills between Redwood City and Half Moon bay, about 20 miles south of san Francisco.
I absolutely dread having to go down east of hwy 280 into the mid peninsula. I refuse to drive on 101...
Came down from Soda Springs ( Donner summit) a few weeks ago and it took over 7 hours..
This is why I love toll roads!
I'll pay a couple bucks to pass up the gridlocked air hazard that is I35 any day. One of the tolls here has an 80 mph speed limit too. Sweet!
I drove thru NYC once. ONCE. I feel terrible for New Yorkers.
Me
Ugh, my brother has dealer plates that let him use those roads willy-nilly...all on the companies dime.
I'm jealous.
Yup. The lives of the rich are much more important. The Invisible Hand is doing its job.
Oh, we are diligently working to see this happen. Our adult kids get mad when they can't use our house for storage, but we are that committed to downsizing everything! There is little point in working your whole life to upkeep a family home in a sprawling, busy place. We want to go where it's less upkeep and it's quiet.
Yes. I think it's caused by 2 problems.
When roads were built there was no planning for expansion of them at a later date.
The transit systems in North America are basically non-existent, even in big cities, causing more people to use cars.
I wish I was rich. I think it's more likely that you've made a false assumption. Truly not a diabolical plot as anyone can use the toll roads, they simply need to pay the toll... which, btw, is probably less than what you'd waste in gas sitting in traffic for an hour or more a day every day of the week.
I have to pay mine, but they aren't much and they're really only necessary sometimes. For me, that is.
Truly not a diabolical plot as anyone can use the toll roads, they simply need to pay the toll
Anyone who has the money. So if you don't have the money you can't use them. I didn't say there was a "plot". The Invisible Hand is letting those that aren't on a strict budget have more time by getting home earlier. That's all. But I guess The Invisible Hand is really telling people without money to move away from areas where the jobs are located.
Tolls in my area are really expensive. I'm not sure it outweighs gas prices at this point. I guess The Invisible Hand wants me to think about it. Really think about it...
If you don't have money you can't buy gas either. If you can buy gas to put in a car that then sits in traffic, you have money to pay a toll as well.
I will grant that prices can vary greatly depending on where you live. When I lived in Tampa, there was a toll at every interstate exit, there were no free interstates nearby to use and the prices differed depending on what type of vehicle you were in and how many passengers you had.
Here in Austin there are free highways running all throughout the city, there are fewer toll booths for the distance you travel and the toll is only $1 per booth. So for me, that works and being a single mom, I too am on a strict budget.
But even those not using the tolls benefit from their existence as every car on the toll is one less car on the primary road.
