Posted on 07/10/2016 8:13:18 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Dear Gov. Hogan, Rep. Delaney, Rep. Shuster … somebody:
I'm Andy Bruns, and I run The Herald-Mail. I need to tell you something disturbing about myself.
At least 10 times a week, I put a bullet in the revolver, spin the cylinder, put the gun to my head and pull the trigger. One of these days, the gun will go off. My friends and family will be devastated, and my children will be fatherless. No, I’m not suicidal. I, along with thousands of others in the region, simply commute to work on Interstate 81. The gun is only a metaphor, but the reality is no less deadly.
What will finally get your attention so you do what's necessary to ease the congestion with more lanes? It seems to me that we’ve lost enough lives on this stretch of highway. I know I’m being overly dramatic, overly cynical, and likely overly critical as there are other factors. But I honestly don’t know what else to do, and we have to do something — and quickly.
I know people drive too fast. I know there are a lot of trucks. I know we could write more tickets. I know we could be less distracted. I know we could always wear seat belts. I know all these things. We should address each one of them. But I also know that I-81 has way too much traffic for only two lanes in each direction.
Sweat and concrete, that’s all we’re asking for. It’s not too much to ask, because we’re paying for it with our lives. A week ago today, 21-year-old Jasmine Renee Rafter was tragically taken from us when the combination of rush-hour traffic and the steady flow of commerce once again produced a deadly result.
Let’s make this beautiful soul the last we lose before at least committing funds to widening the entirety of I-81 in Maryland. Although $45 million has long been set aside to widen the bridges over the Potomac River and the short distance north to the first exit in Maryland, there are miles more to go with no money in sight. The languid pace of highway construction and legislative oversight already doom us to wait years from the time dollars are allocated.
Andy Bruns,
Publisher, The Herald-Mail
There is only a little more than 12 miles of I-81 in Maryland. IIRC, the big issue is the I-81/I-70 interchange.
Some states up the odds as well by having two speed limits. 65MPH for trucks and 70MPH for cars. Many fleet trucks have 70MPH governors and then all other traffic is moving upwards of 80MPH.
As an OTR trucker id have to say MD drivers are some of the biggest a..holes on the Interstates. Chicago is psycho city and people in the DFW are in too big of a hurry. I blame all the outsiders who moved there.
Prolly a fraction of 2nd hand smoke deaths.
Yeah and the trucks should stay out of the left lane so they don’t force you into their blind spot to pass them.
South of Winchester Virginia all the way down 81 into Tennessee is also rife with trucks.It is hazardous. I stay in the right lane and maintain the posted speed limits.
The solution. Railroads. There are plenty of track lines, and the frieghts are under used. The conex method works for seaports to rail, to truck all using the same conex. Perhaps it is time for a fully integrated and seamless transportation system.
If the interstate highway system is hard pressed to keep pace with growing demand and upgrades add to the costs and the congestion... maybe going back to rail and short haul from distribution points is the answer. The current state of operation would indicate such.
What is “prolly” heh heh
Why would you take I-81 from Boston to dc? Just curious.
One of the wisest statements I've seen in a long time.
Everyone disparages the 'trucks" - but, take it from someone who knows, the non-truck drivers drive the truckers mad.
They're always trying to 'beat the truck" - pass on the right, race into the highway to get in front of the truck, expecting the driver of a vehicle weighing upwards to 80,000 pounds to be able to just switch over into another lane on a dime - the texters, the 'mail readers', the putting on the make up and the eating lunchers' --- etc.
there's little to NO respect for the truckers...and a clue as to how to drive around trucks.
Do you KNOW, for example, that if you follow a truck too close - to take advantage of the 'save gas' space - you can be sucked in under - and, literally, lose your head?
DO YOU KNOW that if you dash in too close in front of a trucker - he is obligated BY LAW - NOT to try to avoid you - but to run your ass over??? That is to protect otherwise innocent drivers that might be run over should the trucker try to avoid YOUR sorry ass. (If the trucker hits someone else while avoiding YOU - THEY go straight to jail. If they have to run over you - tough on you . You won't do it again. Ever. Guaranteed.
Have a little more respect for the truckers - for your own hide AND, remember: "If you bought it, a trucker brought it." Your local grocery store , for example, shelves would empty out in a day if not for the truckers.
Maybe you should be giving them a high five instead of a finger.
Railroads, 18-wheelers. May as well relive the Hatfields and the McCoys, there...
I don't know how you deduced that from my post but I have respect for the truck drivers. That's why I think they should have their own dedicated lanes. I know there are a lot of clueless automobile drivers out there that don't know how to handle themselves around them.
The reason the highway system doesn’t meet capacity is because politicians would rather suck up the tax money for gov employee benefits and pensions and to dole out favors than to do what actually needs to be done.
What needs to be done is pretty much last on the list.
And besides, driving a vehicle destroys the planet, so it should be as difficult as possible to encourage people to discourage folks from doing it.
I’m with you on everything you said. I drive a carpool from Alexandria, VA to just south of Baltimore. I take 295 to the DC Beltway to I-95. I know to give the truck drivers respect, but every day I see the idiots (they treat me just as badly).
Just the other day I saw someone ahead of me in his shiny new BMW. He proceeded to cut off an 18-wheeler on I-95. I slowed down quickly, expecting the worst. Luckily, the truck driver reacted in time, avoiding an accident. Idiot Beemer-driver went merrily on his way.
The ones I really laugh at are the morons who tailgate the tractor trailers.
“histrionic”
EXACTLY the word I was looking for lol!!
To Avoid the Cross-Bronx Expressway, for one reason. I-95 sucks in all of it’s incarnations, except perhaps for the 100 mile stretch between DC and Richmond. (LOTS of “Diversions” on that road...Manasses, Fredericksberg, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, etc.)
Also, I liked to peel off at RT55 and cruise the mountains of West Virginia for a nice diversion.
LOL!
FR has a way of enriching one’s vocabulary!
hahaha
Umm - I opened my post re yours with "One of the wisest statements I've seen in a long time."
The rest of the post was 'generic' for all... ;)
I-81 in Virginia already mars the Shenandoah Valley. Paving the rest of the Valley is not a good plan. Most of the Northeast Corridor is already too congested and hair of the dog roadbuilding is a fool’s game.
OK, wasn’t sure if that was sarcasm.
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