#%*^{)(!@%$

[HomeLAN]

It's too bad these fucks aren't directly elected. And the gridlock just gets worse...

The state Transportation Board booted its chairman Thursday for the third time in 10 months during a raucous meeting full of botched motions, political power plays and accusations of racism.

At one point an Atlanta civil rights leader spoke up, calling the scene "an old Georgia lynching" as members bickered over whether they could replace the chairman, who is black.

Board members were so confused, they recessed for a half-hour while a team of tongue-tied state lawyers sorted out the mess. Transportation Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl called in Capitol police officers just in case anyone got out of hand.

When the parliamentary chaos subsided, there was a new, white chairman — David Doss of Rome — and enough hard feelings to fill a four-lane highway. And the dispute isn't over. Ousted Chairman Brad Hubbert of Decatur said he will seek a ruling by the state's attorney general on whether the board overstepped its bounds.

Meanwhile, metro Atlanta's traffic congestion remains at all-time highs. Rural highways are sorely in need of resurfacing. And state transportation leaders are gearing up to spend $15.5 million in six years to help get frustrated commuters rolling.

Source (may require registration)

 

[catocom]

yeah it's somewhat like that all over the state, but it seems
Atl. is the hotspot where activist want to make 'everything' into
a racist issue.
IMO Racism wouldn't be nearly as bad around here, if the 'activist'
wouldn't make it that way.
Also the state gov. could get a whole lot more accomplished.

 

[Gonz]

Ah, good old fashioned no nonsense, no PC, no holds barred politics. Give 'em credit for not dueling at dawn.

 

[MrBishop]

Don't give them any ideas, Gonz.


Is traffic really that bad, or is just a matter of people not giving way etc... I call it "Invisible traffic", because the reason for it is never known...it's not an accident or a stalled car...it's some guy who's long gone who slowed down to avoid a squirrel and slowed down everthing behind him.

 

[HomeLAN]

It's both. It's a lack of driving skills combined with severely overcrowded roads. The result is occasional 1.25 hour commutes home, covering 12.5 miles.

 

[Gonz]

Simply put - too many cars & too litle highway

 

[HomeLAN]

With poor growth plans and poor execution of the ones we have. Combine that with woefully inadequate testing for the privelege of driving, and you get gridlock.

 

[MrBishop]

It's both. It's a lack of driving skills combined with severely overcrowded roads. The result is occasional 1.25 hour commutes home, covering 12.5 miles.

That's fast!
Cripes...if you're ever in Montreal...you should try the 20/Decarie/Champlain Bridge combo from hell. From my father in law's place, with my son now in the back seat, I've done a 20km drive (very liberal for math's sake) in just over 2 hours.

I do this back and forth every day...grand total of about 4 - 41/2 hours commuting each day, for a grand total of about 60km

 

[HomeLAN]

Move.

 

[Gonz]

Just so you feel "better", it's the same everwhere. Phoenix was 7 years ahead of the curve in 1965 or so, when it opened the Black Canyon freeway (I-17) 3 years later they were a decade in the hole.

 

[HomeLAN]

Yeah, no metro area ever seems to have a coherent policy for dealing with population growth.

However, these dinks are supposed to be working on the issues, and instead they're race-baiting and playing politics. Time for a letter to my state rep.

 

[MrBishop]

With poor growth plans and poor execution of the ones we have. Combine that with woefully inadequate testing for the privelege of driving, and you get gridlock.

Rubberkneckers from hell. I once got caught in a headache of a commute...when I got to the affected area (where it all started and past which the highway was effectivly clear)..I noticed that it was because of a car on the side of the road (not blocking traffic in any way, shape or form) with a tire being changed by a stunning young lady wearing short-shorts. A nice ass...but hardly worth an extra hour of traffic.

 

[MrBishop]

Move.

No workable. I live on the south shore of the Ilse of Montreal...the only relativly inexpensive place to live, I work both in Montreal and on the South Shore, my kid gets babysat by my father (who only lives 10 mins away form my place) and my father in law (Who lives on Island.)

3 days/week it's SS to MTL to drop kid, MTL to SS for first job, SS to MTL downtown for 2nd job, DT to MTL to pick up kid and MTL back to SS to go home.

Loverly.

 

[HomeLAN]

So, would this new job cut your commute down?

 

[MrBishop]

So, would this new job cut your commute down?

I fuckin hope so. I'd be taking 2 p/time jobs and turning it into 1 full-time job...and it'd be on Island. That'd be

SS -MTL drop off kid
MTL - Downtown MTL
DT MTL - MTL
MTL - home

Quite a few less steps and more direct. I'd say that it'll knock at leaast 30 mins each way...plus one in the middle. from 4hours/day to 2 1/2 per day.

Yeah...that'd help!!

 

[HomeLAN]

Yeah, just a bit!

 

[Winky]

This is a snippet of something I found. It really caught me.
-------------------
If you think about it, a traffic jam on a 10-lane highway is actually an indication that a lot of things are working extremely well. Before that can happen, you have to have 10-lane highways, and you have to produce so many cars and so much fuel and sell them at a price low enough that there would be enough people owning cars and driving them to overload that 10-lane highway. It's an example of a problem a lot of people in the rest of the world would have loved to have had.
--------------------
I stuck the entire cut and paste over on OCN
Here

Oops that's a forum that requires log-in.
Well I'll paste the whole thing if anyone wants it.

 

[chcr]

Hmm... Interesting and true. I don't think it will keep me from being pissed in my next traffic jam though...

 

[unclehobart]

Bish.. and other MTLers,

How is the public transit up there? Does it not go where thou needest? What form does it take? Trains, busses? Is it solely downtown? Cost? Time effective? Prefferential treatment such as dedicated bus lanes for public transit use?

 

[Winky]

Ok as long as you know that
(and acknowledge)
"getting pissed at traffic jams'
is a neurotic behavior.

Then you probably wouldn’t
get pissed then would ya?

For many years I had a job where I drove in traffic
on average eighty to a hundred miles a day,
two things quickly became apparent
first my getting pissed didn’t change the fact that there
was going to be traffic and secondly being pissed was insane.

besides in the end

the traffic didn’t care….