Posted on 06/23/2007 8:37:19 AM PDT by Altura Ct.
Yup ~ the people want more new roads and they don’t want to die at the hands of speeders and dive-bombers.
The part of the Beltway that passes through Alexandria, crosses the river and arrives in Maryland frequently slows to 0MPH from about 3PM to 7PM on a daily basis.
I assure you this penalty simply does not apply to the Beltway.
The "mixing bowl" is costing just under a billion dollars. The earlier connecting Springfield Bypass/Old Keene Mill Road/Franconia/495/395/95/Frontier Road interchange cost about half a billion dollars.
Just out on I95 going North this morning ~ first time in many months too ~ and they've opened the new main right of way and have pulled up most of the old road. Much safer feeling to it although the guys merging off of I495 act like no one on I95 could possibly want to make a right at the Edsall Road Exit.
I think they are very stupid ~ probably explains how those 4 girls died in that nasty accident right there last week. (For those who don't know, car with 5 girls ~ 19, 20 years old ~ decided to smash into the right side of an 18 wheeler ~ 4 died, 1 was scratched. Rather a clean-cut driver error sort of thing ~ not at all like the accident where the SUV smacked into a dumptruck causing it to run off the road and come down on several automobiles on the Inner Loop. Killed a bunch. Typical of the Mixing Bowl before its total replacement.)
Donning my flame suit, I’ll say this - hefty fines and severe legal penalties keeps speeders and drunks under control in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, etc, because everyone is truly afraid of the consequences of misbehaving on the road. When it costs the equivalent of $5000 - $10000 for drunk driving plus maybe the loss of a license for a year or two, it gets their attention real good. We aren’t ready for that level of safety control in this country, we’re too rowdy for that. The tradeoff is thousands killed and maimed every year by reckless fools and drunks. Take your pick.
OK. I decided to find out. He is partner in his own law firm.
Now are you ready? Among the firm's specialties: traffic offenses and DUI.
Basically you have a little southern town which you'd have compared to Raleigh NC in 1940 having become a major metro area like NYC without any of the roads or infrastructure for it while the state capital of Virginia takes all of the highway money both state and federal and builds European autobahns in tidewater and the southwest part of the state.
Charlotte, NC is facing similar issues. The state won't allow highway funds to go to a city sitting on the southern border of the state and will not allow Charlotte to raise their own funds for roads. We build bypasses that are adequate for the traffic patterns from decades ago and are traffic jams the day they are opened for business.
I assure you this penalty simply does not apply to the Beltway.
During rush hour, police on patrol are too busy responding to wrecks and breakdowns to do much ticketing. It's the weekday lulls just before lunch or the Saturday mornings when there's nothing else going on - and the highways are nearly empty and safely flowing at 85mph - that I always see the MD state boys out filling their quotas.
Nope. There is, and never will never enough money, until they have it all.
Book it!
I know the part of the Beltway in MD you are talking about. That doesn’t happen on the Virginia side. It’s getting to be pretty much wall to wall 24/7.
Someone doing 78 when everyone else is doing 25 is crazy and should be removed from the road.
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