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Transportation

Discussion in 'General Chat Forum' started by Bear, May 1, 2013.

  1. Bear

    Bear Member

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    Its time for the people of Northern Virginia (and Maryland) to get their elected officials to help alleviate the mess.

    My wife was driving south of Richmond on Friday at 1pm and it took her 2.5 hours just to get to Fredericksburg. I feel sorry for the people who live in Manassas or Woodbridge area because their traffic is even worse.

    I drew in the bypasses I would have built if I were dictator. Just wish we could make this happen in the next 4-8 years. Millions of people would enjoy a higher quality of life because of decreased time in their cars, and less fuel burned.

    Our Richmond politicians just steal our traffic money. Take a look at the google maps with traffic at 6pm on a weekday and compare Richmond and Northern Virginia. It's ridiculous.

    The Maryland transportation people who won't allow a Potomac river crossing in Western Montgomery county and Frank Wolf for yielding to a vocal minority 12 years ago are in my doghouse too.

    Take a look at my hand drawn map.

    Bear:)
     

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  2. nutria

    nutria New Member

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    Gets 2 thumbs-up from me!
     
  3. mdcrim

    mdcrim Member

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    Can I come live in your country?
     
  4. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    Bad driving is a major contributor to traffic congestion and adding more highways will not lessen traffic but increase it.
     
  5. Mr. Linux

    Mr. Linux Senior Member & Moderator Forum Staff

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    Bad driving? It's pretty hard to drive 'badly' when you're stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and barely moving. The issue is volume, not bad drivers...
     
  6. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    Look at the bigger picture...why are you sitting bumper to bumper? Abrupt speed changes and breaking (passing and cutting people off) whereby forcing them to break, rubbernecking or morbid curiosity to see what's happening on the "opposite" side of the highway, drivers who don't know how to properly merge...all these things cause a ripple effect and slows down traffic for miles back. Yes, poor driving impedes the flow of traffic along with variables out of our control; road maintenance, bottlenecks (toll booths), inclement weather.
     
  7. Bear

    Bear Member

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    I respectfully disagree. When I go to work in the morning, for example, I take the back way to Chantilly, and 50 is always backed up for 4 miles from South Riding Blvd to Pleasant Valley Road. I am positive that bad driving causes almost none of this. It is because 50 goes from 3 lanes to to 2 lanes in this section.

    The reason 95 backs up in the afternoons (especially on Friday), is because all the commuters and out of town traffic are funneled into far fewer lanes at Dumfries (I think with the car pool lanes it basically goes from 6 lanes to 3 lanes each direction at that point).

    Richmond's drivers aren't better. Their road capacity is just way better suited to the population.
     
  8. mdr227

    mdr227 Member

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    We always avoid 95 and take 29 to 17 to 95, adds about 20 minutes with no delays on 95, but can save you tons of time if there are delays (and frustration). Would far rather be moving than sitting still even if it is a bit out of the way. If we are going to Richmond or beyond we will often take 29 to 522 past Lake Anna to 64 and come in the back way. Luckily with google maps on smart phones you can get an idea of traffic flow and be ready to take alternate routes. 95 North coming home is usually not too bad, but will never go South from the Beltway after 1 PM on any day of the week. You couldn't pay me enough money to live off of 95 and have to commute into DC or Tysons from there.
     
  9. Sasquatch519

    Sasquatch519 Member

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    I agree Bear. It's often easy to spot the individual bad drivers and they certainly can compound problems, but road capacity is the big issue here. Bad drivers aren't as big a factor when everyone has room to either pass them or get out of their way.

    I just got back from Germany and they do have one thing on their highways I'd like to see implemented here: you can get ticketed for being on the left and not passing and you can get ticketed for passing on the right. It dramatically helps traffic flow.

     
  10. Bear

    Bear Member

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    Yeah. Love Germany. Was there about 2 years ago and my wife got our Ford rental car up to 113mph on the Autobahn. Our speed limits are probably too low here. Divided roadways should never have 35mph speed limits.

    Bear
     

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