Traffic nightmares in New England

[NHPlanner]

OK....I left my house this morning at 7:30 to head to work....we had a little bit of snow overnight...nothing of any significant accumulation....yet somehow I spent 2 1/2 hours in traffic on Interstate 93 this morning.... WTF!? I didn't see a single accident on the drive...well....crawl to work today. I could have walked the 26 miles faster that it took to drive.....anyone else in NE have this experience today?

 

[The Irish One]

Well I didn't have this experience but, clearly the California Libertarians have arrived.

 

[BKM]

I'll second Irish One's point. From my experience in New England during a snowstorm (being passed at 80 mph on a freeway with blowing drifts of snow so bad you can't even see the highway lanes or thirty feet in front of you), it obviously can't be New Englanders slowing your commute

 

[SGB]

Some 240 miles to your west, NHP, roads and traffic were very slow due to lake effect snow showers.

My usually 65 minute drive took about 1hr 40 minutes this morning.

 

[El Feo]

Slow to the train station, but the commuter rail was right on time to South Station in Boston. However, I was one of the only ones at work when I got here.

From what I hear, the prob for drivers around Boston was that the roads were basically completely iced over (black ice to boot), and there were plenty of accidents on all the major commuting routes. Snow, no problem, but everybody was taking it veeeerrrrrrrry slowly due to the icing.

 

[Seabishop]

Snow was just a dusting on the grass and there was no ice but for some reason there was a huge traffic jam anyway.

I don't mess around in storms. I'm perfectly happy to putter along in the slow lane and let the Yukon drivers show off before they spin off the road.

 

[PlannerGirl]

stop the presses!

now wait, folks rag on us in the south for going so slow etc when it is even the slightest bit of snow and what do i read here?


Me thinks some pay back ribbing is in order

 

[NHPlanner]

Boston Traffic Story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma..._snow_make_early_morning_commute_treacherous/

Manchester, NH Story: http://www.thewmurchannel.com/news/2676155/detail.html

 

[Seabishop]

stop the presses!

now wait, folks rag on us in the south for going so slow etc when it is even the slightest bit of snow and what do i read here?


Me thinks some pay back ribbing is in order

I've always had the opposite impression of the south. Every winter you see news footage of 100 car pile-ups in Houston or somewhere on their one icy day. I figured they weren't used to it and didn't drive any slower.

I need to take up skiing. I'm not looking forward to winter. I wish I could take transit to work.

 

[PlannerGirl]

Ok yes the bozos on 66 in their SUVs are going way too fast but nature weeds them out fast ;-)

 

[Gedunker]

PG, southerners could use the good sense to park their cars to the side or off the road prior to abandoning them on the interstates during snow or ice storms. :-D

 

[El Feo]

PG, southerners could use the good sense to park their cars to the side or off the road prior to abandoning them on the interstates during snow or ice storms. :-D

Gedunker, I went to grad school at Clemson (SC) and interned in Greenville. One time, coming home from the internship, they were warning on the radio that an ice storm was coming - not "there" mind you, coming - and I swear to you I passed three cars in ditches on the way home. It's like they heard on the radio that the temp was going to be below 30 and just decided to drive off the road and get it over with...

 

[biscuit]

Gedunker, I went to grad school at Clemson (SC) and interned in Greenville. One time, coming home from the internship, they were warning on the radio that an ice storm was coming - not "there" mind you, coming - and I swear to you I passed three cars in ditches on the way home. It's like they heard on the radio that the temp was going to be below 30 and just decided to drive off the road and get it over with...

Sounds like an Upstate winter to me.
Granted the ice storms down there can be very bad, but not so severe as to make you spin out of control before it hits.

I found the worst bad weather drivers in the South to be in Virginia. I was driving I-81 and I-64 during a snow and saw/witnessed countless accidents along the way. SUV's and transfer trucks would fly past me at 85mph only to end up in a ditch and/or engulfed in flames only a few miles up the road. And this was with only 3-6 inches of snow on the ground.
I feel for you PlannerGirl

 

[Gedunker]

Gedunker, I went to grad school at Clemson (SC) and interned in Greenville. One time, coming home from the internship, they were warning on the radio that an ice storm was coming - not "there" mind you, coming - and I swear to you I passed three cars in ditches on the way home. It's like they heard on the radio that the temp was going to be below 30 and just decided to drive off the road and get it over with...

Just "checking in" before I go to a BZA meeting with a miserable agenda and now I've got to run to clean off my monitor! Thanks, El Feo!

 

[Zoning Goddess]

PG, southerners could use the good sense to park their cars to the side or off the road prior to abandoning them on the interstates during snow or ice storms. :-D

Here in central FL, it has only really snowed once in recent history, and I was in Massachusetts at the time, dealing with real snow!

Back OT: down here, real Bubbas (not Illinois Bubbas, mind you) only have major pile-ups if: a) it's a big sale at Wal Mart, or b: they round the corner and suddenly come upon a "burled" peanut stand.

 

[jmf]

Apperently this whole driving problem is catching - we were going 50km/hr (instead of 100km/hr) on a fairly clean highway this morning - it was like the drivers ahead of us had never seen snow before!

 

[PlannerGirl]

Thanks Biscuit

me and the little saturn will poke along with the rest of traffic and let the SUV drivers clear the way to the pearly gates.

snow on the ground im in no real hurry to go anywhere. (though going too slow can cause problems too!)