How is possible that the traffic is that bad??? (Baltimore: low crime, new home)

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by mwruckman

It's spelled Loudon County and its making its rural to exurb change right now as are Prince William and Prince George County . Soon Yankeedom will leap across the Rapahannock and into the heart of Virginia.

It's spelled Loudoun County, not Loudon or London.

[Moth]

Good grief. Every major city suffers from traffic congestion.

Been to Dallas or Denver lately? Even those with excellent transportation systems like New York and San Francisco have...lots of traffic. Hell, even European cities suffer from traffic congestion. Check out London or Milan sometime.

Dense housing/New Urbanism/Walkable communities in the burbs are nice, but they are not going to solve the problem. Those residents all have cars. And they use them.

There are a great many of us here with more coming. We all change jobs and work in a variety of locations.

Sure, keep improving and adding to the public transportation options. But there is no silver bullet.

[dkf747]

Yes, all those cities have congestion, but it is not as bad in most of those places as it can be here.

[Moth]

Originally Posted by dkf747

Yes, all those cities have congestion, but it is not as bad in most of those places as it can be here.

Are you sure? Not saying you are wrong, I just wonder what makes our congestion so unique.

I worked on a project in Denver once and it was appalling. I lived in Dallas once and would not trade DC for that mass psychosis.

I lived in New York for years and took advantage of its excellent transportation options. None the less, there are people commuting from the Poconos, eastern Long Island, mid-Jersey, etc.

DC has had Sunbelt city levels of growth. At the same time the Metro has collapsed as a reliable option and you can never build enough roads.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by Moth

Are you sure? Not saying you are wrong, I just wonder what makes our congestion so unique.

I worked on a project in Denver once and it was appalling. I lived in Dallas once and would not trade DC for that mass psychosis.

I lived in New York for years and took advantage of its excellent transportation options. None the less, there are people commuting from the Poconos, eastern Long Island, mid-Jersey, etc.

DC has had Sunbelt city levels of growth. At the same time the Metro has collapsed as a reliable option and you can never build enough roads.

Yes, I'm sure. It's not unique. It's just worse. I know one thing that is a problem here. The Potomac River and the lack of bridges. It's not just that. Another problem is the Beltway narrowing to two lanes in one place, and the inadequate 270 and 495 junction. Another is the HOV on 66 inside the Beltway, and not enough lanes. This overwhelms all the alternative routes, if there are any. Another is 270 not being 3 lanes all the way to Frederick. The biggest problem is no one has the power to fix these issues. There's a whole lot more examples. Metro's failure to fix its issues is not helping.

[seanlax]

The DC region's traffic situation is onerous mostly because of timing and geography. DC is not an historically large city, like other large metro's that are denser and more compact. DC isn't a brand new city either (like Vegas) where new roads can simply be built without anyone being in the way.

No, DC faces a situation that no other city in the US faces:

- Major capital
- Majority of city and suburban growth 1970-2000
- 3 very different jurisdictions
- Edge cities abound
- Diverse and undulating terrain, soils and water table
- Steady job and population growth spread throughout region
- Stubborn racism among suburbanites of all races

Every other city y'all has mentioned is missing at least one of these characteristics; characteristics indicative of the region's historical urban growth, and important factors in understanding the development and evolution of local infrastructure. It's pretty simple, but there are many factors at play here.

[papichulo2]

a lot of people here and they keep doing construction and closing lanes (and people being arrogant and thinking they have to get in front of evrybodyyy) also, people are always stressed here thats why.

[Slj23]

The roadway infrastructure is vastly undersized for the population. There seems to be a road type of 'layer' or 'level' of road entirely missing. It goes highway, main road, back road/cul de sac with speed bumps. Speed cameras are everywhere. There's few secondary roads. When you exit the high ways you're immediately on four lane roads (two each way) with frequent stop lights. It brings the traffic to a complete stop. There are no shortcuts or back roads. Look carefully at areas adjacent to Rockville Pike (or any main roads off the highways). The neighborhoods on the sides of the roads are mostly closed circular house enclaves with no other way out or through. You can zoom in on a map and see it. This means that you can't pull into side roads and go a shorter/less busy route. Everyone is forced to stay on the four lane roads with all the lights. Most red lights last for at least 60 seconds whether or not the cross road has any cars on it. So, you sit still a lot, pondering your life choices. It's stunningly poorly planned. Getting anywhere takes twenty times longer than it should. The infrastructure from 1800 is compounded by the worst, stupidest, slowest drivers you've ever seen. It's like roadways are full of new drivers. I am not being catty, this is the simple truth. I drove to Bethesda today from Takoma Park. In that time I saw three different cars driving along the side of roads in non-existent lanes, realize it, and merge into traffic without looking. This is typical, and bizarre.

[slowlane3]

Originally Posted by Cruzincat

An even better bypass would be to connect I95 from Delaware down to a new bridge somewhere between Cambridge and the Calvert Cliffs area,

But - "North Beach Person" here, in another post, recently pointed out, that a bridge between Calvert County and Dorchester County (Cambridge area) would be impossible, due to swampy, totally unsuitable terrain that cannot support a bridge, as well as the lack of any roads to connect such a bridge to near the Bay shoreline of Dorchester County.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by slowlane3

But - "North Beach Person" here, in another post, recently pointed out, that a bridge between Calvert County and Dorchester County (Cambridge area) would be impossible, due to swampy, totally unsuitable terrain that cannot support a bridge, as well as the lack of any roads to connect such a bridge to near the Bay shoreline of Dorchester County.

Yes I have, as has SHA, among other agencies. A "Calvert to Dorchester" bridge is an idea, the time of which has passed.


And it's not "just a bridge". It's all the infrastructure that goes with it. You might have a $10B bridge but you'd end up with $50B+ in supporting infrastructure. Not to mention that when the first plans for a crossing to Dorchester was first proposed two very significant facilities have been built at the only place in Calvert where a bridge could be anchored, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant and the Dominion Resources natural gas exporting plant (which is being expanded as we speak).