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I-95: The bane of our holiday travel existence

Started by cpzilliacus, December 20, 2013, 11:06:52 PM

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cpzilliacus

This article is not (IMO) serious journalism (and may not be intended that way, since it is in the Style section), and contains several omissions and at least one big error.  It purports to be about all of I-95, but is mostly about I-95 and related highways running N-S reasonably near Washington, D.C.

Washington Post: I-95: The bane of our holiday travel existence
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.


hotdogPi

Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

hbelkins

And the story doesn't even mention the fact that I-95 is incomplete.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

NJRoadfan

Funny, I have never had a problem driving I-95 south to NC the day after Christmas. Always a smooth ride that day. Its far worse in the summer.

DeaconG

Quote from: NJRoadfan on December 21, 2013, 12:13:21 AM
Funny, I have never had a problem driving I-95 south to NC the day after Christmas. Always a smooth ride that day. Its far worse in the summer.

Now, through the Carolinas is a different story! The last few years I've headed north to visit family, it was the Carolinas that was my biggest headache, the day after New Years.  I swore I was on the world's fastest parking lot until I got to Florence, then thanked God profusely for those three lanes...
Dawnstar: "You're an ape! And you can talk!"
King Solovar: "And you're a human with wings! Reality holds surprises for everyone!"
-Crisis On Infinite Earths #2

jeffandnicole

Quote from: hbelkins on December 21, 2013, 12:02:29 AM
And the story doesn't even mention the fact that I-95 is incomplete.

Why would it? Not every story needs to mention it. Heck, 95 wasn't completed in Washington DC either.

Doctor Whom

The overwrought, cliché-ridden writing is standard for the Style section.

cpzilliacus

Quote from: hbelkins on December 21, 2013, 12:02:29 AM
And the story doesn't even mention the fact that I-95 is incomplete.

Thank you.  Perhaps the most glaring admission.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

hbelkins

Quote from: jeffandnicole on December 21, 2013, 07:04:42 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on December 21, 2013, 12:02:29 AM
And the story doesn't even mention the fact that I-95 is incomplete.

Why would it? Not every story needs to mention it. Heck, 95 wasn't completed in Washington DC either.

Yes it was, by signing it on the Beltway. The gap in NJ is not even signed.

Of course the story seemed to grasp the obvious; that through traffic from DC and Baltimore going toward NYC will use the New Jersey Turnpike instead of I-95 through Philadelphia.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

1995hoo

QuoteAh, 95, you are crafty this year–with your dulcet promises of fully staffed toll plazas and repaired roads, of HOV lanes for everyone. But you can't fool us, not this time. Not while the Maryland House travel plaza remains closed for renovation and we've had to use the bathroom since New York Avenue 40 minutes ago. Not while the signs to Philadelphia turn blurry and fiendish before our eyes, a Hieronymus Bosch painting disguised as a road.

Clearly this writer has never travelled on I-95. The chances of getting from New York Avenue to the Maryland House in 40 minutes are almost nil, and there aren't exactly many signs for Philadelphia either if you use the Jersey Turnpike route she describes.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

jeffandnicole

Me thinks people are way overthinking a lighthearted column about traveling on a holiday.

cpzilliacus

Quote from: jeffandnicole on December 21, 2013, 08:00:38 PM
Me thinks people are way overthinking a lighthearted column about traveling on a holiday.

I agree with you. 

But that does not relieve the Post Style section from getting their facts right.

This is still a major newspaper, not The Onion.
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

cpzilliacus

Quote from: 1995hoo on December 21, 2013, 03:15:30 PM
Clearly this writer has never travelled on I-95. The chances of getting from New York Avenue to the Maryland House in 40 minutes are almost nil, and there aren't exactly many signs for Philadelphia either if you use the Jersey Turnpike route she describes.

Agreed.  It's about 59 miles from where U.S. 50 leaves Northeast Washington, D.C. to Maryland House (via the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, I-895 and finally I-95).

Maryland seems to have totally forgotten Philadelphia as a destination on I-95 (I wonder if that may change when I-95 is completed at the connection to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bristol Township, Pennsylvania).
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.

1995hoo

Quote from: cpzilliacus on December 21, 2013, 11:32:25 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 21, 2013, 03:15:30 PM
Clearly this writer has never travelled on I-95. The chances of getting from New York Avenue to the Maryland House in 40 minutes are almost nil, and there aren't exactly many signs for Philadelphia either if you use the Jersey Turnpike route she describes.

Agreed.  It's about 59 miles from where U.S. 50 leaves Northeast Washington, D.C. to Maryland House (via the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, I-895 and finally I-95).

....

Yeah, going through the Baltimore area in particular makes it difficult. My father and I once drove the 246 miles from my parents' house just east of Fairfax City, VA, to my grandmother's house in Bay Ridge (Brooklyn near the Verrazano Bridge) in three hours 20 minutes back in the early 1990s, but even then it took us more than 40 minutes to reach Baltimore, let alone the Maryland House. I can't imagine pulling it off these days, even though nowadays with E-ZPass in theory you can get through the toll plazas a lot faster than we could back then when we were paying cash.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

BamaZeus

What caught my eye was that the head of DE toll operations is named Victor Buono.  He shares his name with King Tut from the old Batman tv show.




cpzilliacus

Quote from: BamaZeus on December 23, 2013, 12:43:22 PM
What caught my eye was that the head of DE toll operations is named Victor Buono.  He shares his name with King Tut from the old Batman tv show.

I remember the character from Batman, but not the name of the actor (usually listed in the credits as "Guest Villain").
Opinions expressed here on AAROADS are strictly personal and mine alone, and do not reflect policies or positions of MWCOG, NCRTPB or their member federal, state, county and municipal governments or any other agency.



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