AARoads Forum

National Boards => General Highway Talk => Topic started by: thenetwork on December 25, 2011, 11:56:11 PM

Title: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: thenetwork on December 25, 2011, 11:56:11 PM
I figured that this would be a great place to create a listing of local newspapers and/or magazines that provide a regular forum for people to ask questions about and/or to gripe about "why things are?" on their local roadways.

Case in point:  The Cleveland Plain Dealer has a twice-a-week column called "Road Rant", which gives a chance for their readers to voice complaints about everything from non-working street lights to poor signage to potholes and much more.  The column covers highway questions in the Northeast Ohio area, closer to Cleveland than Akron and usually runs on Tuesdays & Fridays.  The column can also be found at cleveland.com . 

An example of one of these columns is here: http://www.cleveland.com/roadrant/index.ssf/2011/10/cleveland_and_brooklyn_a_bit_t.html (http://www.cleveland.com/roadrant/index.ssf/2011/10/cleveland_and_brooklyn_a_bit_t.html)


I know several years ago, the Detroit Free Press did a similar column as well (not sure if it still does).  Are there any other similar columns out there that regularly cover local roadways and their deficiencies?   :hmmm:

Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: myosh_tino on December 26, 2011, 01:59:42 AM
Gary Richards of the San Jose Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/) writes an almost daily column (Sunday thru Friday) titled "Mr. Roadshow".  He covers anything transportation related in the San Francisco Bay Area although his primary focus has been the south bay region around San Jose.  He will, on occasion, discuss statewide issues like gas prices, high speed rail and construction projects on major California highways outside of the Bay Area like I-5 and I-80.  He also hosts an online chat through the newspaper's website every Wednesday from noon to 1 PM although his next scheduled chat isn't until the first Wednesday in January.

You can find his column at http://www.mercurynews.com/mr-roadshow
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: adt1982 on December 26, 2011, 11:36:47 AM
Ken Leiser of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes a column called Along For the Ride.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/traffic/along-for-the-ride
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: roadfro on December 26, 2011, 12:18:40 PM
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has published its "Road Warrior" column twice weekly for several years now. Wednesday's edition is usually devoted to answering readers' questions. Sunday's column typically covers something related to roads or transportation in the Las Vegas area, but sometimes delves into state-wide issues or other related transport topics.

The Road Warrior column is here: http://www.lvrj.com/columnists/Adrienne_Packer.html
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: xcellntbuy on December 26, 2011, 12:39:29 PM
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale has "On the Roads" written by Michael Turnell published every Monday.  Excellent column.  Quite often there are reader questions and answers for traffic fixes of signs, traffic lights, ever changing traffic patterns and extensive construction updates throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties. :nod:
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: txstateends on December 26, 2011, 02:16:18 PM
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's traffic/transportation blog is called "Honkin' Mad".
http://blogs.star-telegram.com/honkin_mad/

Meanwhile, the Dallas Morning News has its own, untitled blog:
http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: oscar on December 26, 2011, 02:17:02 PM
The Washington Post has Robert Thomson's "Dr. Gridlock" column (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock) (usually on Sundays and Thursdays, sometimes with short items other days), which also covers transit and some other non-roads issues.
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: hobsini2 on December 26, 2011, 03:53:56 PM
The Chicago Tribune had a column every week call "Getting Around" on Tuesdays. Don't know if it still does.
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: jdb1234 on December 26, 2011, 05:49:44 PM
The Birmingham News has a weekly column called Driver's Side

http://blog.al.com/drivers-side/index.html (http://blog.al.com/drivers-side/index.html)
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: JREwing78 on December 26, 2011, 10:27:33 PM
The Chicago Tribune had a column every week call "Getting Around" on Tuesdays. Don't know if it still does.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/traffic/chi-jonhilkevitch,0,3124478.columnist
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: hbelkins on December 27, 2011, 02:20:43 PM
One of the Pennsylvania newspapers does -- Allentown, I think.
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: Takumi on December 27, 2011, 02:45:08 PM
The Richmond Times-Dispatch had (and probably still does) a semi-weekly column called Street Beat. I'm not sure if Petersburg's paper, The Progress-Index, does or not.
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: PAHighways on December 27, 2011, 06:20:57 PM
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a Transportation (http://www.post-gazette.com/transportation/) section and the Allentown Morning Call has "The Road Warrior" (http://www.mcall.com/news/local/warrior/) column.
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: US71 on December 27, 2011, 06:26:13 PM
NW Arkansas Times/Arkansas Gazette used to have Gridlock Guru, but he left the paper and the column ended.
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: brownpelican on December 28, 2011, 11:24:42 AM
The New Orleans Times-Picayune's Web site has an entire section dedicated to traffic issues. Recently, they added fire reports to it for some reason.

www.nola.com/traffic (http://www.nola.com/traffic)
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: 1995hoo on December 29, 2011, 04:27:06 PM
The Washington Post has Robert Thomson's "Dr. Gridlock" column (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock) (usually on Sundays and Thursdays, sometimes with short items other days), which also covers transit and some other non-roads issues.

As someone who has been quoted in his column, I can attest that he reads comments posted to his blog and takes them seriously.

The Baltimore Sun has a similar column written by Michael Dresser called "Getting There," (http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bal-getting-there-sg,0,6359758.storygallery) but their website doesn't seem to be updated as regularly as the Post's. Mr. Dresser put together a very comprehensive series of columns some years back regarding "Delaware Avoidance Routes" for people driving northeast who wanted to avoid the Newark Toll Plaza specifically and the I-95/New Jersey Turnpike corridor in general.
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: hm insulators on January 10, 2012, 03:06:04 PM
Years ago, the Arizona Republic had such a column. I think it was called "Bumper to Bumper."
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: mapman1071 on January 14, 2012, 08:42:26 PM
Years ago, the Arizona Republic had such a column. I think it was called "Bumper to Bumper."
Bumper to Bumper Runs on Monday and on Friday both on page B2
Title: Re: Regular Newspaper Columns On Area Roadways
Post by: cpzilliacus on January 24, 2012, 07:35:56 PM
The Washington Post has Robert Thomson's "Dr. Gridlock" column (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock) (usually on Sundays and Thursdays, sometimes with short items other days), which also covers transit and some other non-roads issues.

As someone who has been quoted in his column, I can attest that he reads comments posted to his blog and takes them seriously.

The Baltimore Sun has a similar column written by Michael Dresser called "Getting There," (http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/bal-getting-there-sg,0,6359758.storygallery) but their website doesn't seem to be updated as regularly as the Post's. Mr. Dresser put together a very comprehensive series of columns some years back regarding "Delaware Avoidance Routes" for people driving northeast who wanted to avoid the Newark Toll Plaza specifically and the I-95/New Jersey Turnpike corridor in general.

Michael Dresser has moved to the the Sun's Annapolis coverage, and Candus Thompson is now in charge of the Getting There and commuting content (http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/commuting/) by the Baltimore Sun.