A snowy commute: Seeing red
Posted on December 4th, 2007 – 5:07 PMBy Roadguy
At sunset yesterday, the MnDOT traffic map was like a tangle of bright red yarn, and one of Roadguy’s coworkers reported that his Tuesday-afternoon commute went from the usual 15 minutes to an hour and 10. More horror stories are available in a Strib article here; if you eventually made it home and have something to share, please do so below.
59 Responses to "A snowy commute: Seeing red"
Just got back from St. Cloud. I have to give MNDOT an F- for it’s plowing. 494 on the NW side was a mess, but was awesome compared to what it was south of 394–unplowed. There were no discernable lanes, and snow piled up in and between the makeshift lanes carved out by traffic. Same goes for Cedar Ave. south of the MOA.
Let’s see, they only had–carry the one–ALL FRIGGIN’ DAY to get the roads ready for rush hour. It was just pathetic to see roads of this nature in a northern, cold-climate major city. It reminded me of when I lived in a place in CA where it snowed one or two days a year, and they just left it.
While I was in St. Cloud I was running through the scenario in my head for the drive home: plows out all day, applying sand and salt, the traffic will have the salt/sand nicely chewed in to what snow remained. The roads would be wet but manageable. WRONG!!
Stop and go traffic on deadly roads. Vehicles in the ditch everywhere. Just unbelievable.
I saw plenty of red today, as a result of the constant gridlock in downtown Minneapolis. As the traffic gets bad all semblance of coexisting as a rational society goes out the window and it is every driver for himself. At every change of every traffic light somebody who has no chance of getting through the intersection pulls into it anyway and sits there, thus blocking the way for everyone else when the light changes. Between this nasty habit and the large number of drivers who are unable to keep their cars from banging into obstacles left and right there was plenty of reason to be seeing red.
Jeff,
The same thing happened at the U of M campus today. I wasn’t too surprised for the most part, as our busy society cannot possibly wait another 2 minutes for the light to be green again and thus avoid traffic headaches for all. However, I was shocked to see MULTIPLE Metro Transit buses doing the same thing! At one point, at the intersection of University and Oak on East Bank, there were 3 separate buses in the intersection for my entire green light cycle. One of these was a double-long too! I would think that if anyone was to be courteous in the tough driving conditions (that is the understatement of the year!) it would be Metro Transit drivers. Guess I was wrong!
My commute last night was ridiculous!!! My two choices are taking Bush Lake Rd all the way home - which has a lot of S-curves and a lake to catch you if you lose control - or Normandale south to Old Shakopee Rd west to home. I went the “long” way home - via Normandale - which normally takes 15-20 minutes. It took me an hour and 40 minutes to get home because there was a huge back-up on Old Shakopee. Apparently everyone in the metro area was taking Old Shak to get to 169 South.
Anyway, after sitting in the right lane for 45 minutes (for a 1/2 mile), I finally got to SEE the turn from Normandale to Old Shak, and found that part of the back-up was because a large number of cars (those impatient ___) were skipping the right-turn line and instead pulling up to the light in the right lane and making the right turn - which stole all the room on Old Shak from the rest of us!! (I’ve never felt so much road rage as I did when I saw that!!!)
Did you hear the one about the guy in Bloomington who got so pissed about the traffic that he did a hit-n-run then fled from the police? The cops ended up pitting his car on Old Shakopee Rd.
I have to disagree with Morg. While no fan of MNDOT, and have to give the drivers on the road a F- and give MNDOT a C.
To me, this was a combination of the overall heavy traffic volume on the roads during the day and the timing of the snowfall.
They didn’t have all day - they only have a couple of hours of effective plowing time before traffic levels were too high. Granted, I don’t think they used that time very well.
The real problem was us, the drivers. I drive a local delivery van and got to enjoy the fun all day yesterday. Unlike most of my co-drivers, I accepted the reality that I had no control over the snow and road conditions.
What I did do was slow down and pay attention.
Tips to my fellow travelers, especially all the nice SUVs and trucks I saw in the ditch:
1) No matter what your position in life is or how badly you want to get to where you are going, you are subject to the same laws of gravity and physics as everyone else. Go too fast and you will hit someone or the ditch.
2)TURN YOUR LIGHTS ON!
3)Just once, please, get off the cell phone and pay attention to the road.
Ok, I’ll get off the soapbox. We have a long, snowy winter in front of us, and I, for one, would like to continue making it home safely every night.
What do you expect from the “me first” crowd? Remember their lives are much more important than anybody elses. Can you feel the holiday spirit flowing?
I completely agree with Easily Distracted Road Warrior. I love the snow. I just cannot stand the drivers in said snow. I almost got clipped twice while driving home yesterday. One by a girl talking on her cell phone and weaving between two lanes - mine and hers. The other by some dude who thought he could speed in his half-cleaned off SUV and nearly skidded into me had I not taken evasive action. And this morning, on the way to work, there were people who think turning on heater inside the car and doing a couple of swipes with the wiper is the most effective way to clear snow from their windows. Never mind the snow storm that blows onto your car from the five inches of snow sitting on the rest of their car. On the flipside, there were those who decided to be uber safe and drive 15 mph on a cleared and well-salted street (University Ave.). Wintertime is always a great reminder that we need a more effective public transportation system to get these people off the street!
Ya, my drive home took longer then normal, blah, blah, blah, complain, complain, complain. This is Minnesota, this is what happens when it snows, movement freezes.
I do agree with Road Warrior though, too many people on cell phones, making turns with one hand, sliding everywhere.
It took me 45 minutes to go 6 miles from Roseville to Saint Paul last night. It was just slow. No one was doing terribly crazy stunts aside from the one car who tried to sneak around all of us patiently waiting at a light in the right hand lane to make the right turn. Needless to say that car got stuck. This being MN at least 5 people jumped out of their cars to push this person out. All in all not too bad. I am just glad I didn’t end up having to drive out to Chanhassen to play a concert. I might be singing a different tune.
Minneapolis’ Darkest Hour(s)
I have lived and worked in Mpls for the last 15 years. Yesterday’s evening rush hour was the worst traffic I’ve ever encountered in this city. Leaving at 5pm it took me 2.5 hours to go from Calhoun Square to the StoneArch bridge, and only because I followed a bus down a bus lane for 6 blocks. Where were the Police directing traffic, where were the usually no existant traffic controllers. It was Gridlock at every intersection. MTC busses were the biggest culprits in blocking intersections. I sat at 3rd Ave and 9th st for 10 lights without moving whileempty double busses blocked the intersection repeatedly. Where was our city’s leadership? I am more dissapointed in our City now than in the last 15 years. It is a sad sad time in the 612.
I didn’t mind that it took longer to get home (20 minutes from the state capitol to the cathedral was a bit much), but like the others I was really frustrated with people changing lanes at will and stopping in the middle of intersections. Other than that, I didn’t see driving that was so terrible.
I think that MN-DOT did about as good a job as they could, based on the timing of the snow. As I passed underneath 169 on Minnetonka Blvd, I saw a plow creeping along with the rest of the traffic. I also checked the StarTrib’s traffic map around 2pm yesterday. There was a significant amount of red or congestion at that time of day.
As for my commute, it was 20% percent longer. It took me 10 minutes to get home versus the normal 8. This was one of the reasons when I was searching for a new job, that I took one 3.5 miles from my house. The delta of a couple more “K” in pay that a downtown firm offered me was not enough to put up with the hassle of traffic.
Geez, I waited one day too long to get the Winter tires put on. My little hatchback was sliding all over the place last night. The highways, as usual, weren’t too bad - but those side streets…
This situation demonstrates the short-sightedness of adding lanes, though. I mean, it’s a great idea when the weather’s decent, but now the tighter spacing increases chances of accidents. Not to mention the problem of what to do with the plowed snow.
I waited for 45 minutes at the U of M for any east-bound bus to let me on. None did (too full, plus there were only a couple buses due to stopped traffic on Washington). So I decided to walk home. One hour/5 miles later, I realized that I should have started walking home right away instead of waiting for a bus. Frostbite sucks, though.
I could have ridden a Pugsley home faster than my 1.5 hour auto commute. Must. Buy Pugsley.
botski writes
“Must. Buy Pugsley.”
I need to ride more in order to justify one of them things. Though am now lusting after a Big Dummy too.
What’s a Pugsley?
I wasn’t surprised the roads were bad at 5:00 last night. But I expected them to be better by the time I got out of class at 9:00. 252 & 94 were still terrible. At least there wasn’t much traffic that late.
Morg,
I had the same experience on the drive home from Mendota Heights to Minneapolis. I take the Olson Highway to Crosstown to 35W to 94. NONE if it looked as if it had been plowed and I left work at 8:30pm yesterday specifically to let the traffic die down and the plows do their job.
Does everyone see now why we need increased state funding for transportation?
Easily Distracted:
I would normally agree with you, but you obviously didn’t notice the time of my post.
When I left for St. Cloud around 1 pm the plows were out, so I figured they would be able to keep pace with a few inches of snow. WRONG!! It was WELL after rush hour when I came thru again and it was as if the roads hadn’t been plowed at all. There is NO EXCUSE for roads of these conditions. One pass by the plows at some point would have made all the difference in the world, but no.
Traffic volumes are not an excuse. The roads need to be creared, so traffic be damned! On my way north, I encountered a fleet of staggered plows clearing 494, traffic backed up behind them. Where were these plows when they were actually needed?
Truth be told, when we get a major snowstorm, the roads are usually dry pavement within 3 or 4 days, which I think is a remarkable turnaround. I give the plows an A++ during those times. So why can’t they make the roads at least respectable over the course of an entire day when we get 5 inches?
Suz,
The Pugsley -
http://www.surlybikes.com/pugsley.html
http://www.joeschmidt.com/img/surly-pugsley.jpg
http://mnbicyclecommuter.blogspot.com/2006/09/surly-pugsley-is-finally-done.html
I looked into these last spring and wanted to test drive one, but none of the shops has one to try out. I was a little afraid to plop down $1500 (or so) for something I cant try out first.
To follow up on my earlier post, I don’t expect, after ANY snowfall, to be able to cruise down the I at 70 mph. I DO, however, expect there to be some semblance of effort made to clear the roads after several hours. Last night, there wasn’t. It was a major, 6-lane UNPLOWED freeway. Pathetic.
Botski, I shouldn’t have checked out those links. Now I want a Pugsley too. Time to retire the old Stumpjumper.
botski writes
“I looked into these last spring and wanted to test drive one, but none of the shops has one to try out. I was a little afraid to plop down $1500 (or so) for something I cant try out first.”
You might try hiawatha cycle on 54th street & 42nd ave.
I know a couple guys that ride them and have a few minutes of ‘demo’ time. They are a blast. BUT that is a lot of tire to push around on a regular basis. Its not a great bike to have as an only bike, IMHO. It IS a great bike for an alternative/backup.
Traffic gets like this every time it snows. I really have no idea why the city didn’t plow even a little bit down the major streets.
Where were traffic control cops? It was clearly needed.
When a bus is packed, they really need to NOT stop.
I also think they need to start ticketing these drivers who block the intersection. Fair weather or foul, don’t block the intersection! What the heck is the matter with these people? As has been mentioned so many times, **hang up and drive**.
My solution to the whole thing was Block E. Checked out the book store, got a burger, and watched a movie. By the time the flick was finished, the streets were much less crazy.
I really think the city and MnDot should have handled this bout of weather much better, and oh lookie, it may very well happen again tomorrow. Wonder what else is playing at Block E?
First it took an hour for my bus to come. Then I was on THAT bus for an hour.
After having FINALLY gotten to my second bus (where I had to stand) and watching buses fly right past bus stops, before we can get mid-town, we encounter an accident. By the way, my driver’s attitude was get in where you fit in, we were stuffed to the rim! I left work at 4:20 and didn’t get home until 7:05.
A couple of thoughts:
(1) Relative to other places I’ve lived (Ohio, NJ), I’d say MN drivers are pretty good snow drivers. Certainly there are the idiots who pull into intersections without clearance on the other side, but overall I think you guys are good drivers.
(2) My commute was a little longer (20 mins instead of 15 mins), but I live close to where I work (Marcy-Holmes / Energy Park).
(3) I don’t suppose anyone wants to move to a more central location in the cities to mitigate this problem? Has anyone out there done so?
“I don’t suppose anyone wants to move to a more central location in the cities to mitigate this problem? Has anyone out there done so?”
Sure. When I bought a house I bought in Minneapolis. Downtown is a short commute, a job in the burbs is against traffic. Best of both worlds. Yesterday getting from centennial lakes (edina) to east nokomis took only an extra few minutes, with no real waits anywhere, just slower speeds due to snow-covered roads. I’ve learned that my level of sanity is inversely proportional to the length of my commute.
I completely agree with Easily Distracted Road Warrior also.
Although he missed point number 5… Please clear your entire car off of snow and not just your front windshield.
I had the worst commute ever yesterday while running errans after leaving work early. I left at 2:30 PM and went the Home Depot in the quarry.
After leaving there to the Best Buy in Roseville. I got stuck in the slowest traffic I’ve ever seen on Highway 36. It took 40-45 minutes to get from 35W to Snelling Avenue at 3:10 PM. It wasn’t even stop & go traffic, it was stop and take your foot off the break for 10 seconds traffic. I saw a few people pass on the shoulder to make the turns and the shoulders weren’t plowed at all, and i was waiting for one of those people to end up in the ditch. (PS there was somone in the ditch were 280 and 35W meet on the Highway 36 side blocking the right lane)
So yeah leaving work early and what would normally take about 40 minutes to run errans took 2 1/2 hours.
I guess I was fortunate in that I was in Memphis all day yesterday, but I came home to slippery roads. I basically fish-tailed all the way home from the light rail station, no matter how slowly I drove.
It’s certainly good to be aware of what’s around you while driving, but does anyone agree that paying specific attention to what other drivers are doing in their vehicles is a driving distraction itself?
I think I’m willing to freeze my butt off at the bus stop this winter to use public transit for the work commute and keep my car off the road.
Funny, where are all these people who whine about services when it’s time to vote in an administration that will raise taxes appropriately to cover even basic INFLATION. Instead people vote to CUT taxes. This is what we get.
I’m not surprised that it’s the worst J has seen in 15 years, with the “no new taxes” administration every service (police, plows, traffic officers, etc).
But, I don’t think the main problem was the plows. They didn’t have a chance, with the bad drivers backing up traffic. They can’t plow when traffic is at a standstill due to some idiot blocking a lane due to a spinout or accident.
If some of you did not see bad driving, it’s only because at that point everyone had to crawl. I drove home from Abbott (Philips) to Oakdale at 1pm, and I could not believe what I saw. I sat in traffic as if it was 5pm. The roads at that point weren’t even that bad, but there was a young girl in a caravan facing the WRONG WAY on 94 E, having spun-out all by herself. Also a crash.
On Hwy 36, people in ditches, accidents. I could not believe it.
I drove the speed limit when nobody was in front of me, and had NO problems. I drive a 98 Mercury Sable POS with decent tires, not an SUV. I even tested the roads at a light (with plenty of room ahead and behind me), and stopped easily. If people hit their brakes in panic on bad roads, or have tires so bad that they can’t take a corner (saw a Mazda RX-7 doing circles trying to corner an intersection), GET OFF THE ROAD. It’s Minnesota, go practice in a parking lot or get snow tires and an appropriate winter vehicle. I am so fed-up with the idiot drivers in this state I can’t help but rant. I believe the SUPER SLOW and BRAKE-LIGHT CONSTANT cautious people are WAY more of a hazard than nearly anyone else.
And one idiot spinning-out who blocks a lane is enough to cause miles of backups, and the rubber-necking doesn’t help.
This morning at 10am 94 West was backed up. Why, you ask? Because there was gawker-slowing to stare at an accident on the other side. Of course. And 280 going south was stop and go all the way from hwy 36. Still not sure why. Roads were WET.
My drive home took a little longer than normal, but not that much longer. Hwy 246 and county 9 from Northfield to 52, and then 52 down to Rochester took about 1:30 instead of the normal 1:00. Mainly because with the blowing snow it was difficult to see the edge of the road on 246 and 9.
It took me two hours to get home just west of the St. Croix River form Fort Snelling State Park. I had three choices of routes — 5 N to the Mendota Bridge and 55/110/494, 5 S to 494, or 5/W 7th St./Kellogg/etc. I chose the route through downtown St. Paul. Big Mistake! I forgot about all of the stoplights. The problem there wasn’t people stopping in the intersection so much as starting up after being stopped and not getting any traction to move anywhere. That, and not being able to move forward because traffic turning form the cross street filling any gaps that existed after the traffic advanced at the light ahead. Compared notes with others at the same meeting this morning and no one had a good time getting home.
It was the worst I’ve seen in 35 years of driving. Even worse than the Halloween Blizzard (due to the sheer number of vehicles on the road.) It took me two hours and ten minutes (2:50 to 5:00) to get from 169 to the 35E ramp on 494, and an additional 20 minutes to get down the loop to 35E Northbound. While I sat over 35E I watched a gang of four plows parked across NB 35E behind a single line of cars heading very slowly towards St. Paul. It would seem to me that those plows could have made better use of their time if they had split up, and attempted clearing one lane at a time, perhaps sending a few out on the ramps & loops. Why not wait to gang plow until they can make at least 10 MPH? They don’t do any good just sitting in traffic! What were they doing at 2:00?
“I don’t suppose anyone wants to move to a more central location in the cities to mitigate this problem? Has anyone out there done so?”
Yes!! I live 3.5 miles from work. In the story I posted above, I took the “long” way home - which is about 7 miles instead of 3.5 miles. (The story explains why I chose the long way instead of the short way. The shorter way is a little more risky with bad roads.) That close proximity to work did me NO GOOD on Tuesday.
– What were they doing at 2:00? –
Sitting in traffic with most of the commuters. According to the traffic maps at the time, there was a significant amount of congestion at 2:00 inside the 494 beltway.
We have a disaster waiting to happen this winter. The political leadership in the metro area have got to get an organized campaign going to educate the public on defensive driving practices and winter survival planning or we will end up with much worse than Tuesday.
Imagine a multi-car accident on the 94 bridge in a heavy snow and 10 degree temps at rush hour with injured people and no way to get to them and no traffic movement for 2 to 3 hours and people abandoning their cars.
In today’s paper, Roadguy points the blame finger at the missing 35W bridge. Could that really impact the entire metro to such a degree? Or did my brief scan of the article mislead me about his conclusions?
On Tuesday it took me just over two and a half hours to go from Penn and 394 to the West Bank campus via Washington Avenue. The entire time I was on Washington, I did not see one traffic cop attempting to direct traffic and saw multiple drivers blocking intersections.
However, the actions that one man took really topped off the whole experience. I was sitting at the intersection of 4th Ave and Washington for probably close to 45 minutes moving maybe one car length every 5-6 green lights. When I reached the front of the intersection I wouldn’t be able to pull forward without blocking the intersection which I was not about to do. So, I proceeded to sit and wait. All the while, a vehicle behind me continually honked and flashed brights at me each time the light turned green. After about 5 green lights of this behavior the man in the minivan got out of his vehicle, pounded on my window, and started yelling and swearing that I was blocking a turn lane. I was in the rightmost lane of Washington, headed east, where the designated right turn lane doesn’t come into play until the approach to 35W. The fact that this man would treat anyone like this is just astounding especially given that he was obviously unaware that he was not in a designated turn lane. And honestly, did he think we were all sitting there for fun. Give me a break.
My wife had to deal with driving through Minneapolis, and I’m sure there were lots of problems with bad drivers, but in my mind, this doesn’t excuse the terrible job MnDOT did. I took alternate roads home and traffic would breeze along but everytime we came to a freeway entrance, traffic would drop to a standstill. I made 5 miles in 7 or 8 minutes, and then would take 40 minutes to go a half mile, then faster, then slowing to a near standstill again. Traffic was nearly stopped trying to get on 35E southbound (from Shepard Rd), then was stopped trying to get on 5 westbound, then again a 20 minute stop to go one block moving from 46th across 55 southbound. Why was downtown gridlock? The stopping had to start somewhere, and I bet it was on cars creeping onto the freeways. MnDOT had all day to get at least a few passes on some of the highways — why did they wait until nearly rush hour? I don’t blame it on the plow drivers, but the planning (both in budgeting for number of plows and drivers and execution) is clearly broken. My normal 25 minute commute turned into almost 2-1/2 hours, and not one of the roads I drove on had seen a snowplow all day, as far as I could tell.
It’s enormously frustrating to see that our infrastructure is broken and mismanaged, and no one is held accountable, and no one is willing to do a darn thing about it.
“I don’t suppose anyone wants to move to a more central location in the cities to mitigate this problem? Has anyone out there done so?”
If only it were that simple. As I’ve pointed out elsewhere, it is a small % of workers who work in the same cube downtown every day. Many people work in various locations. I, for instance, as an electrical contractor, work wherever the work is. Sometimes that means driving from Rosemount to Elk River. Some days it’s off to Rochester. The next it’s Hudson. Should I live in my work truck so I can always be close to my next job? Rent apts. all over the metro so that I’m never more than 15 min. from any one point? What about someone who loses their job or changes jobs? Should they move every time their work situation changes?
It’s just not practical. In a perfect world, everyone works downtown in their cube and rides the bus in from S. MPLS. This isn’t a perfect world. To suggest everyone conform to some utopic ideal that happens to work for some is noble but unrealistic.
bsimon: i think the lack of the i35 bridge is what made it so terrible to get out of minneapolis. so no, that didn’t create all of the problems, but it created a bunch of problems, and they had a kind of domino effect.
i know for me, it took me 40 minutes to get from the Metrodome to the 3rd Avenue Bridge. forty minutes! and no, i wasn’t crawling on my stomach while wearing a blindfold. i was trying to drive my car.
it was absurd.
To follow up, what if everyone said “you know, that person has a point. Despite the fact I’ll never be able to ride my bike after dark for fear of being beaten to death, and the fact the Mayor and police are doing nothing about gang violence,I’m moving to the city.”?
Let’s say that actually happened. Then what? With no one left in the suburbs, where will the jobs be? And if there are still jobs in the ‘burbs, won’t there just be the same problem, with gridlock from people trying to get to their jobs outside the city?
And what about all the nimbyism in MPLS.? Every time there is a proposal for a tall building outside of downtown, the local neighborhood is outraged. With this new influx of residents, Mpls. will be denser than Manhattan. Where are all these newcomers going to live when any building taller than three stories is decried?
Sounds like the snow just brought out the typical Minnesota attitude.
Not sure if it was the worst commute ever, but definitely in the top 5. I’ll echo others above:
1. I didn’t see many motorists blocking intersections, but saw several Metro Transit buses doing that. Inexcusable.
2. Where were the traffic cops? Since the I35 bridge fell down, traffic cops have been all over downtown. Why not on Tuesday? Is it a safety issue for them? I could understand that — probably not safe to stand in the middle of the road in slippery conditions.
Morg asks
“And what about all the nimbyism in MPLS.? Every time there is a proposal for a tall building outside of downtown, the local neighborhood is outraged. With this new influx of residents, Mpls. will be denser than Manhattan. Where are all these newcomers going to live when any building taller than three stories is decried?”
Most people are averse to change. With regards to the nimbyism over tall buildings, I’ll plead guilty. The city’s plan for the hiawatha corridor is to allow for mixed use buildings near the station on 50th & along the route between 52nd & 54th. In the area around 50th, its mostly single family homes & no building over 3 stories - as a neighbor, its a little unsettling to think of the area as suddenly having 4 to 5 story buildings. BUT, when the change happens slowly, its more tolerable. There are a couple eyesores that could use replacement; if the replacements are a little taller it wouldn’t be so bad. Its kindof like the anti-monster house movement. I can see why people don’t want to see their neighborhood character changing with these huge new houses on small lots. I think the ordinances should enforce slow change by limiting new construction based on the existing neighborhood character. This would allow for slow change over time.
I hear ya, bsimon. I was just trying to make my point that the “why doesn’t everyone just move to the city/closer to their work” crowd was being naive’ and/or unrealistic.
Morg says,
“Despite the fact I’ll never be able to ride my bike after dark for fear of being beaten to death”
Give it up, Morg. This kind of race-baiting fear mongering has no place in today’s world. Have you actually walked around Minneapolis at night?
Honestly, when are we going to reject the politics of fear and actually experience the real world?
Linn,
I had a similar experience with a driver flashing his brights behind me when I wouldn’t pull into the intersection. He finally went around me and gave me a dirty look. What’s with that? I understand being stuck in traffic sucks, but it doesn’t mean you have to harass people who are obeying traffic laws. Heck, I’m wasn’t going to be one of the people who pulled into an intersection with no room to get out. That’s one of my worst pet peeves. I had to smile gleefully though, when after this guy changed lanes my lane started moving and I left him far behind!
Post #2
Lack of planning or poor planning by MnDot, City of Minneapolis, MTC.
I cannot stress enough how many MTC busses blocked intersections in downtown Minneapolis.
The City of Mpls has posted this on their website >>
Help keep the traffic moving: Be a considerate and smart ‘snow’ driver
Following yesterday’s slow, snowy evening rush hour, Minneapolis is preparing for more snowfall this week and throughout the winter. When snow is coming down, Minneapolis crews are out plowing, sanding, and salting to keep the streets drivable, even when there’s no Snow Emergency. While Minneapolis does its part, drivers can play a critical role in reducing delays during the next snowy commute.
Be your own traffic cop. Don’t block the box!
The most important thing drivers can do is to not contribute to traffic congestion is to not “block the box,” (driving into an intersection when there is not enough room for your vehicle to make it completely through the intersection). When the traffic signals change, cars that are blocking the box keep cross traffic from moving, stopping up traffic in both directions.
Instead, drivers should make sure there is room to pull all the way through before entering the intersection. Being patient and sometimes waiting for the next green light will significantly improve traffic flow for everyone.
Our first snowy commute since the bridge collapse
Many factors combined to slow traffic during the evening rush hour last night. Traffic on local streets into and out of Downtown has been unusually heavy since the I-35W bridge collapse. Heavy snowfall and thousands of Minnesota Timberwolves fans heading Downtown during rush hour added even more traffic to the mix.
Since the I-35W Bridge collapse in August, Minneapolis has deployed extra traffic control agents at some intersections in Downtown. They can work to ensure that drivers don’t block the box. However, because Minneapolis was in Day 3 of a Snow Emergency, some of those traffic control agents were needed elsewhere in the city to ensure that cars were ticketed and towed so the streets could be cleared.
I would like to know why when it snow, there seems to twice as many cars out? Are cars like gremlins? When snow hits your car two pop out and sit on the freeways?
Also, my other question is why do semi-truck drivers feel need to drive 800 mph on the interstate when it’s snowing? And they don’t feel the need to stay in their own lane.
“…why do semi-truck drivers feel need to drive 800 mph on the interstate when it’s snowing? And they don’t feel the need to stay in their own lane.”
Because, like most pickup and SUV drivers, they feel a greater sense of security in their vehicle. With their riding position so far above the fray, surrounded by enough metal to stop all but another similarly sized behemoth - they can enjoy their commute. Meanwhile, the little econo-cars are playing a serious game of dodgeball.
– Because, like most pickup and SUV drivers, they feel a greater sense of security in their vehicle. With their riding position so far above the fray, surrounded by enough metal to stop all but another similarly sized behemoth - they can enjoy their commute. Meanwhile, the little econo-cars are playing a serious game of dodgeball. –
Little do these meatheads realize that trying to stop 4500-6000 lbs. takes longer than your standard passenger car. I guess that why quite of ‘em end up upside down in the ditch.
I know! I drive a Honda Accord and I feel like they are going to drive right through me!
Ahhhh, Honda Accord. When I had more money, that’s what I drove. Seems like luxury to me now, driving a Mercury Sable that’s 10 years old.
David,
I have walked around Minneapolis many times at night. Didn’t feel comfortable, especially downtown, by Gangworks.
You obviously didn’t get it, but my post was somewhat sarcastic & tongue-in-cheek, altho Mark, the innocent victim of the senseless beating was my wife’s step-cousin.
Incidentally, we go to Chicago a few times a year for pleasure and always stay at the Palmer House Hilton in the heart of the Loop, walking everywhere. I’ve never felt uneasy there, but then again they have this thing called a police presence. In fact, they’re everywhere: foot, car, paddy wagon, horseback. Minneapolis should look into that.
“I don’t suppose anyone wants to move to a more central location in the cities to mitigate this problem? Has anyone out there done so?”
I’ve moved every time I’ve changed jobs. I refuse to live/work anywhere where I’d have more than a 20 minute commute. My free time is too valuable to waste it sitting in traffic. And I’m not one of those “everyone must live in the city” types. When I worked in Rosemount, I moved to Rosemount. I loved my commute there. 5 miles, 4 of which were on a gravel road. If I saw 3 cars on my way to work, that was busy traffic.
Suz, when you own a house, it’s not that easy to move with employment. Especially since people don’t tend to keep jobs for 30 years now.
