December 16, 2004
As the Traffic Crawls
This is a view of my daily commute around what I call the Circle of Death, otherwise known as the Capital Beltway. It's just a little snap shot of what I face everyday. This photo is a far far cry from the real thing... fell fortunate. At the time of this photo I am sitting still in traffic waiting to inch across the American Legion Bridge back into Maryland. I am fifteen miles from my office. It has taken me thirty-six minutes to travel that fifteen miles. Little did I realize that it would be another ninety before I would get home yesterday evening. There is no accident. It is sheer volume of vehicles of all sizes and drivers of little skill. Tailgaters, people driving (speeding) on the shoulder, cars merging, rampant lane changers, slamming on brakes, honk, honk, gas, brake, honk, gas, brake, honk. This shit fries my nerves and when I get home I am seriously stressed and hating humanity. Why in the hell am I doing this?
At least I don't have to face this madness tonight, as I am staying in Northern Virginia with D&A.
"Why in the hell am I doing this?"
You're doing this because they still haven't quite figgered out how to make the whole River Rd./Cabin John to 270-SPUR junction work. River Rd. and Cabin John are main arteries out of DC, and a lot of those commuters want to get to Rockville, Gaithersburg, Frederick, etc. So, you get two major roads feeding from the right, from which all those commuters have to shift completely across the highway to enter the 270 spur. Brilliant engineering. They need to turn the 270-SPUR exit from the left to the right. This backs traffic up down into NoVA.
Then, I-270S / I-495 merge at MD-187 (Old Georgetown Rd.) and Rockville Pike kicks in, where you go from 5 lanes to two before mixing in I-270S traffic. The Capital Beltway would qualify as a death penalty case if one were allowed to prosecute civil engineers for bad design.
hello will my wild the american fiend
"Why in the hell am I doing this?"
habid to tell you why, if you look the close at the picture, up a few rows you will see the suv's. that is the reason. the diabolical SUV to hog the road and cause the jam of the traffic. How the habid to know? Simple if you to look at the picutre of the suv you will see the bright red lites. Those SUV's are driving slow to block the traffic.
Habid to say, damn the small penised suv road huggers.
habid
Posted by: habidelsharif on December 16, 2004 08:13 PMTwo words of advice: "New job."
Beltway driving is for masochists. Get out the help wanted ads, set up a few online job search agents, and FUCK that drive.
It's a quality of life thing. When I was looking for a job, I ruled out any that required me to drive beyond Baltimore because I hate beltway driving of any sort. I passed up some decent opportunities, but now my commute into downtown Baltimore takes 20 minutes, I enjoy my job, and did I mention my commute is 20 minutes?
Posted by: Professor Pan on December 17, 2004 10:22 AMHello will my wild the american commuter
yes will habid say you must to take the advice of the peter pan. Your commute will never get better, only worse. it is the daily commute of hell, suv's, soccermom's and worse, foreignors with the cell phone driving the circle of death, every day for the rest of eternity.
Oh, did habid tell you of his communte. Habid is the stumble down the stairs and into the office. Work at home, if you can, that is the ticket. habid not even to get dressed in the morning. habid say try to go to your job in your dirty undies and see how it goes. well habid to go now.
good luck will on your commute , habid say to be safe.
habid
Posted by: habid el sharif on December 17, 2004 11:46 AMI could easily make 15K-20K more working in DC/NOVA.
It ain't even close to worth it!!
Flee for your LIFE!!!!!
Posted by: mm on December 17, 2004 11:52 AMIt's not the distance (50 miles one way) that is the problem. It is the damned volume of traffic and I swear that it has only gotten worse in the nine months I have been doing this. I would happily drive out to Antietam National Battlefield (60 miles) for a Ranger position. I would even work in Frederick (40 miles). Going to either location is opposite the traffic and 80% and 100% open highway respectively. Ideal areas for work are Ellicott City, Columbia, Frederick/Antietam and Baltimore. The search begins with the New Year.
Posted by: Will Burnham on December 17, 2004 12:25 PMGood Luck with the job search. You should have no problem finding something in the areas you mentioned.
I used to live in Odenton and work in Columbia for a company whose East Coast HQ is in McLean. I drove to McLean ONCE for a training class and then mandated that I would NEVER EVER EVER FOR ANY REASON NO MATTER WHO ASKED go there again.
YIKES. And I complaign about my little two lanes of traffic here in Northeatern PA. I'll just keep my mouth shut next time, heh.
(Is this the normal amount of traffic or does the holiday shopping masses factor in?)
Posted by: Lee Ann on December 20, 2004 07:18 AMUnfortunately this is the normal traffic. The holidays have nothing to do with it... except maybe on the weekends.
Posted by: Will Burnham on December 20, 2004 07:34 AMDude, that is some messed up shit. There are toooo many people on this planet and toooo many automobiles. Beijing is next: 17% growth in vehicles PER YEAR...and the oil conglomerates go, "wheee!"
Posted by: Insta Marv on December 23, 2004 09:10 AMgood luck will on the search! and happy holidays to you and your family.
this image is usual way in our homeland in the Philippines. Highways are literally parking lots for vehicles.
Posted by: Junnie on December 23, 2004 09:42 AM