tim_k
Buttons, Bows, Beamer, Shadow, Kasey
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join:2002-02-02
Stewartstown, PA
 ·Millenicom
 ·WildBlue
3 edits | NOVA road construction morons
My commute to work is stressful enough without having to put up with the morons that do the construction on I495. I mean, where do they get these people? A couple years ago I was going home at midnight when I saw signs saying that three lanes were closing. So far, no problem. I get close to where the construction is being done and I see a mess of brake lights ahead. I slow down and as I get closer I see that instead of gradually blocking each lane off, they had a line of cones going directly across all three lanes. Already several cars went through the cones and hit something.
Next, a couple months ago I'm coming down I95 when the electronic traffic sign said that all lanes of I495 W are closed for construction and to go around I495 E. How could they do something like that without some advanced warning? If MD closed an entire highway, you can be sure they would let commuters know in advance. I always allow a lot of extra time so going around I495 in the opposite direction won't make me late. Then I get two miles from my exit and they shut down three lanes with a backup that takes about 20-30 mins to get through. That would me about 5-10 mins late, but now I'm confused. I'm about 3/4 mile from my exit and I see an exit sign in the cones, but I'm not sure what exit it's for. I'm so far from my exit that I don't think it's mine, so I go past it. A short time later I realize that it was my exit and try to get on it, but there is no way to get through. I would have crashed through if it was just cones, but now they have concrete barriers that I can't get through. I end up taking I66 W and turning around. Luckily while taking an exit to get turned around I saw a detour sign for I495 because there was no obvious way to get back on I66 E and I discovered the wife had the GPS. Before calling me an idiot for missing my exit, I overheard a co-worker talking and he did the exact same thing.
Then a couple days ago they started completely closing my exit. So where do they put the exit closed sign? About 100 ft before the exit. Real smart, if they just put it 1/4 mile away, I'd be able to take the exit in the opposite direction and quickly get turned around, but no! I have to go down to the next exit where the quickest way to get back on I495 is to make an illegal left hand turn, which I did see several people doing. Then they opened the exit for the next several days. Tonight, they didn't even bother putting up an 'exit closed' sign, they just sealed it off. This time I tried the GPS to see how it gets me back and it decided to take me on a road with a ton of traffic lights. Boy, my blood pressure.....
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RIP my babys Buttons 1/15/94-2/9/07 & Beamer 7/24/08, Buttons, Buttons video, Beamer
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DC DSL
Stays crunchy even in milk
Premium
join:2000-07-30
Washington, DC
 ·Covad Communications
·Verizon Online DSL
| It's related to Virginia's stupidity about properly marking roads. We were going to a friend's housewarming in Kingstowne a few years ago. It would have been a breeze getting there had the streets had accurate signage...or even signs to begin with. Instead, we went around in circles for almost an hour until the process of elimination landed us on the right street. Ten years later, the signs are still farkled.
If you ever get out around Harrisonburg or Broadway, you'll be thrilled to know that they have signs everywhere alerting drivers that "double lines mean do not pass."
And people say DC is a fustercluck? 
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There is no giant fur-bearing trout. |
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grobinette
Premium,Mod
join:2001-01-27
Springfield, VA
clubs:
 ·Verizon FIOS
Host:
Home Repair & Impr..
Millenicom
| reply to tim_k
Try this when you are traveling down here, it may help you out
»www.virginiadot.org/travel/trave···ault.asp
As far as bad road markings in northern Virginia, it's true. They can't do signage worth a damn.
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Team Discovery |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
 ·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| reply to tim_k
I'm not sure where you're from, but, "at midnight" is not exactly a time of day known for being a "commuter" time. VA takes great pains (and expense) to do major roadway construction as far out of the rush-hour windows as possible. They also try to get overall road/lane closures to a minimum by working as quickly as possible. This means that, instead of closing one lane down for a couple weeks, and work their way across, they try to do as much of a given area in one chunk. It works out much faster that way. Compare it to Maryland where construction can happen just about any damned time of day or where, mile-for-mile, construction takes at least twice as long and I'll take the VADOT system (and, originally being from PA, I'd definitely take it over PENNDOT's).
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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tim_k
Buttons, Bows, Beamer, Shadow, Kasey
Premium
join:2002-02-02
Stewartstown, PA | It's not the construction that bothers me, in fact I except it at night. My complaint is the lack of notification for major roadwork and the lack of signs indicating work ahead. |
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nixen
Rockin' the Boxen
Premium
join:2002-10-04
Alexandria, VA
·Cox HSI
·Speakeasy
| said by tim_k  :It's not the construction that bothers me, in fact I except it at night. My complaint is the lack of notification for major roadwork and the lack of signs indicating work ahead. Depends on the roadwork. For major projects, they often publicize it on local news outlets in the weeks ahead (e.g., when they did traffic redirection/closures for the opening of the new spans of the new WW bridge). For something that's only going to be a small span of time and likely to effect a relatively small number of travelers, the notification usually takes place in the form of the electronic road work signs, notice on the VADOT web site and radio traffic alerts. The latter is most useful when you have traffic service enabled GPS like mine.
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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. -- Bertrand Russell |
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tim_k
Buttons, Bows, Beamer, Shadow, Kasey
Premium
join:2002-02-02
Stewartstown, PA
·Millenicom
·WildBlue
| reply to tim_k
They must have heard me  They had the 'exit closed' sign before I got to my exit this time. Unfortunately, when I took my exit in the opposite direction and turned around, they had that blocked off too, that hasn't been blocked before. So I had to go up to the next exit anyway.
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RIP my babys Buttons 1/15/94-2/9/07 & Beamer 7/24/08, Buttons, Buttons video, Beamer
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stillrunnin
So What? You Gotta Problem With That?
Premium
join:2003-12-27
Frederick,MD
clubs: | reply to tim_k
welcome to Northern Va. |
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DCJeff
join:2009-09-28
Arlington, VA
| reply to tim_k
I've only been living in NoVA for a few years now, and I can already see that traffic is getting worse each year.
The population is growing so fast here that there isn't really a way to fix this...
The only real solution imo = Metro or biking to work. Not that either of those is flawless, but at least they're more reliable than driving here. |
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tim_k
Buttons, Bows, Beamer, Shadow, Kasey
Premium
join:2002-02-02
Stewartstown, PA
·Millenicom
·WildBlue
| reply to tim_k
There was a small decrease in traffic during the worst of the recession, but it's picked back up a bit. It was really bad for a couple weeks before school started. Construction has also picked up, I guess from stimulus money rolling in.
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RIP my babys Buttons 1/15/94-2/9/07 & Beamer 7/24/08, Buttons, Buttons video, Beamer
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