Posted: 12/1/2005 8:01:50 AM EDT
[rant on] When you need a usual "long" commute to take 50 minutes, which is already 250% LONGER than normal it turns into an 1 hour and a half. IT also DOESNT help that I missed a midterm today for one of my classes   - well, theres always the finalF*ing state - with sh*t government that hasnt done ANYTHING to prepare for increased traffic over the last ten years, short of individuals alloting TWO freaking hours to travel 20 miles   [rant off] |
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It's getting bad down here.. Every morning the 5 is backed up southbound into Portland. Several of the surface streets are jammed as well. And it's not really because the roads suck, it's because we got to many fricken california drivers. 205 is pretty sucky anymore as well. Should be an asshole californian tax... |
Most of the plates I see in traffic jams say "Oregon" or "Washington" on them. You can blame California all you want... |
Yes we can! All the Califs are residents now so they have Wa or OR plates! doesn't make them drive any better!!!! |
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I-5 needs to be widened to 8 lanes from the Canadian border to the Oregon border, with an additional 4 lanes in each direction from Olympia to Everett. Anything in the way needs to be plowed under. 99 needs to be made into a freeway and renamed 805 from Seattle to Everett. 405 needs to be widened to 6 lanes in each direction with the Renton S-curves removed and the extreme elevation changed filled in. In addition Hwy 9 needs to become the I-405 extention and go from Hwy2 to Mount Vernon, with 6 lanes of traffic in each direction. |
I liked KA3Bs idea a little better.  Yours was good no doubt, until I remembered that I have children. 
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What have you to fear Odt ? |
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We have a traffic problem because we have too many people. Not because everyone has a car, but increased population increases property values (higher demand)...most people can't afford the property costs (mortgage/rent) so they move out to the country (cheaper land, longer commutes) Another reason they move out is because of higher crime rates (which is related to a larger population) Increasing taxes to build more roads is nothing but a band-aid for a larger issue. Tackle population, we can deal with traffic, crime, education, etc. Ignore it--and there's nothing to do but raise taxes and bitch. Bottom line--if you want to solve the traffic problem, we need to solve the population problem. Check out the Census bureau pages for the reasons of our population increase (expected to top 300 million in the next couple of years) Incidentally, I hear President Bush is about to approve temporary work visas (worth 6 years of "stay here") for the crapload of illegals in the US. Is President Bush really for OUR interests? Hell, are any politicians for us? |
 I may be angry with the commute time BUT I HAVENT LOST MY MIND YET - I'll vote for a gas tax WHEN THEY ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE MONEY  . I ain't givin libs a FINGER....... unless I dont want my hand |
HEY NOW! MyParents Immigrated Legally to the USA-My dad even spend 8 months In a Romy Commy prison For trying to escape the crappy regime's country (He had to cross a REAL border, not a fence)- didnt help that he was a Christian either. |
Well now that the snow started falling in Bothell, I'm F***** - I drive a Lexus SC300 - And last time I was in Seattle with snow wasnt to good two years ago  - Time to beg my dad for his Pathfinder 4x4 manual tranny 
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When it comes down to it, I guess no more than any other man does. Your plan isn't so bad. I think natural disasters, economic failures and wars, all have their way of putting everything back in to realistic perspective. I think needing your neighbors is a better deal than scorning them over petty differences of opinion. I think having to fight for what you have and intend to keep makes us stronger, and healthier... mentally and phisically.
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Hey man, was talking about the California people. They've been moving up here in droves since the late '80's. Lower taxes, cheaper housing, lower cost of living, less crime. So basically, they fucked up their own state and are on the way to fucking ours up to! |
Yeah massive amounts of death, destruction with the resulting radioactive wastelands, and disease is a good way to handle traffic problems.  How many people do you need to end up dead for these "problems" to be solved?
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The "whining" drone of yet another tree hugger. I see MORE WASHINGTON AND OREGON plates in California then vice versa. As a matter of fact up until the early 1990s more people moved to California from WA then the other way around (DATA FACT FROM THE CA Dept of Motor Vehicles) When I was in Palm Desert last week every freakin third plate was from WA, ID, OR etc. (Mmmmm...wonder why? Must be the "GREAT" winter weather up here.) People in California didn't screw their state up....it was mass illegal immigration and SNOWBIRDS from OUTSIDE the state that moved in droves everytime the Rose Bowl was on and they saw 75 degrees while they were shivering their asses off. Your comments are not only trite but worthless as well.
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They have these things you put on the drive wheels called chains, aka traction devices. try a set of these before you borrow a 4 wheel drive. 99 percent of the time you don't need 4 wheel drive in the snow. |
You know why? The great California migration first started in the early 80's. By the late 80's these California transplants were tired of the rain, fog, gloom and snow of Washington, so they moved BACK to California. All we need is another good 3-5 years of shitty weather and a couple 2 month summers and they'll be moving in droves again. |
That's Merry Christmas dagnabit! Although to a pathological minority of the PC circle one even Happy Holidays is "offensive" as they take it as Happy Holy Days and they just don't like it. I find Happy Holidays, Merry XMas, Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas, even Merry Happy Ho-Ho to all be good for me. |
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As a professional driver, you guys can blame anyone you wish, the truth lies on the drivers. I was on I-75 in Ohio Sunday after Thanksgiving, crammed with cars, the slow fuckers move right for faster traffic, just like they do in CALIFORNIA. Its the locals who seem to not understand the concept of slower traffic move right. You can build 400 lanes, and these non driving assclown libtard kommie pinkos will continue to not understand driving 101 concepts, and we will continue to have gridlock. Blame who you wish, its not the highways, we have 6 lanes in some places, its the locals. BTW, fwiw, rush hour between San Fran & San Jose on 3 lanes, jammed packed is 75+ MPH. They dont wait until 50 feet before their exit to get in the proper lane, and if they do they are SOL. Here, they stop traffic to allow that lateral movement. Thats the problem. |
they need to clamp down on the licensing, make it like getting a private pilot's license, and strictly enforce the MVC. Break down in traffic get towed immediately if not bulldozed into the median, do it more than twice in one year, lose your license for a year. More than one minor at fault accident (distracted driving, rear enders, blowing a stop sign) a year, lose your license for 5 years. First DUI, license limited to work and home. 2nd, no license ever. Special punches and testing for night time, highway, and inclement weather driving. Start by jacking up the fines for driving like a moron; speed limit or below in the left lane, distracted driving, no headlights after dark, failing to maintain the speed limit, failing to drive a set speed, and any other thing I can think of. Special licensing and testing for RVs over the size of a standard PU to include high speed control and confined space work. But no, the state makes more money of ransoming the highways to any dickweed with an ignition key than they do off of safe and efficient roadways. AND widen I-5 through downtown Seattle, that's where the slowness is, idiot highway engineers put a major Interstate highway UNDER A FUCKING BUILDING! 
+1, the data is online, makes a neat graph. I remember how this state was BEFORE the large scale movements of CAians to WA. |
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Sometimes if I wanna go to Seattle, I have to head north from Everett to Marysville to get in line. Or you can go east on Highway 2, then south at Wenatchee and head back across Snoqualmie.
Got a link to the data? |
Sounds like New Jersey-type infrastructure. Our crack DOT would fuck that plan up royally. Not to mention the wonderful Dept. of Ecology--"Uh, what's the enviornmental impact on the speckled grasshopper if we tear down this big concrete building and replace it with a concrete road?"
Get this shit, there are parts of this country where people rely on a small amount of driving skill and not some set of chains that invariably get flung off of said drive wheels on the middle of I-5. Remember kiddies, the gas pedal is much like your rifle's trigger. Ease pressure into it nice and easy--don't mash on it and you will go forward. The brakes are the same way--don't stand on them, just ease into them. That brings us into the whole "Leave extra space between you and the guy in front of you" concept. Hell, I just saved you guys $39.95 for a set of chains. Since I will be at the next Puyallup fun show, I will accept payment in 5.56 x 45, 7.62 x39, 12 ga, .40 S&W and / or 9 x 18. 
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I have a set of chains, just in case the State Patrol calls for them. I've never used them. I put some good cold weather all-season tires on the car when we buy it and allow more spacing for ice or snow. There isn't really any flat ground around here, except small stretches, so proficiency in slope operations is valuable. |
here here! what the hell, these people just can't go forward. i'm going to need a new clutch in a couple weeks after this crazy crap! i mean seriously, all the onramp metering, and all that crap, and there i sit on the hightway. here's what i want to know. why do they stop on a bridge?? i mean, it's a bridge! there's no place to go but forward! most of the other big cities i've been in major traffic have always been fast-movers, this is bewildering.
hahaha... i've been completely amused by the complete freak-out everyone had about the 'looming snow storm' out here. i've never seen a land with so many snow chains, or snow tires.. before i left to come out here, i looked at a couple places to see if i could get chains... and nobody had any (i was told i NEEDED them out here)!  the ice i keep hearing about though has me worried... i guess when it comes i'm going to die in a fiery ice accident. |
Thats not the point. I like driving bigger vehicles cuz I dont want some idiot to run into while in a "lower car." I dont like how Seattle drivers behave on the road and I feel safer in an SUV or Pickup(preferably a diesel dually  ) The 98 Lexus is cool and all, but in a few months I'm gonna get a 95 pathfinder cuz its cheaper, leaves more money for guns, and is a good off road hunting vehicle, if need be - my sister on the other hand would die if she didnt drive a Lexus, Benz, or other such car besides I kinda like manual tranny cars...now that I finally have the opportunity to drive them(99 Pathfinder) |
As long as maroons NB wait until 50 feet before I-90 EB to cross 5 lanes, and the idiots continue to allow them to get over, it will continue to be a parking lot no matter how wide. I will try this one more time. The stopped, or stop and go, is directly related to last minute lane crossing, and the accomplices to same. 50 lanes just means more lanes to cross. SB is from 520 WB crossing to Mercer, again, crossing 5 lanes in <.5 mile, dead stop. More lanes is not the answer. |