Monday, June 17, 2013

The beginning of commuting hell

We live a few miles away from one of the more important interchanges in the Twin Cities highway system, the intersection of 35W and 694. The stretch of 694 that runs between 35W and the Mississippi River is about seven miles and a major construction project is about to begin there, which will have traffic down to one lane at times.

I've seen various estimates on the amount of traffic that comes through this stretch, but it's well over 100,000 vehicles a day. More importantly, there aren't very many options for crossing the Mississippi in the north metro, so it's going to be awful for most of the summer. And since Mrs. D uses this road to get to work, she'll especially enjoy the fun involved.

The work was supposed to begin this morning, but the Star Tribune is reporting that we might have a one-day reprieve. We'll have to see how it works, but I suspect that we're due for a very rough summer when it comes to getting around the north metro.

9 comments:

W.B. Picklesworth said...

Boo. Not fun at all. Has she tried audio books from the library?

Mr. D said...

She may have to now, WBP.

Bike Bubba said...

Wow. I've got two stop signs and three stoplights from home to work. It's pretty awesome how nice roads can be when they're actually planned well, and the funds aren't pirated for transit.

Brian said...

Don't worry. I'm sure they will pave their way out of congestion any century, now.

Mr. D said...

Don't worry. I'm sure they will pave their way out of congestion any century, now.

We're not adding any lanes as a result of this project. We're just trying to maintain the inadequate roads we have.

By the way, the light rail we've put in here has done nothing to relieve congestion. Nothing. There are reasons for that, but that's another post.

Mrs. D said...

Thanks for the suggestion WBP. Kind of ironic that I might need to check out audio books from the library to help my commute to my job which is at a public library!

W.B. Picklesworth said...

Mrs. D,

I didn't know that! But I do know that when I had to commute to my internship down in Savage, audio books made the time go MUCH more quickly. Have fun commutin'!

3john2 said...

I think the Overdrive app - which allows you to borrow e-books from a public library - also has a feature that allow audiobook downloads to your device as well.

Bike Bubba said...

Wait a second, Mr. D. Light rail has done something to relieve congestion--by blocking off lanes of traffic and intersections, it's made the problem worse.

Glad to help.