Rock 'em Sock 'em Commute

This morning's commute was a little dodgier than usual, both literally and euphemistically.

As I have frequently ranted in the past, there is a special level of hell reserved for motorists who do not clean the snow and ice off their car before heading out onto the streets, roads and highways. This morning, I was dodging huge slabs of ice flying off of various cars around me. Fortunately, outside of a few small snowballs, nothing of consequence struck my car but a few other vehicles were not so lucky; I can't say if they sustained any damage as my attention was required elsewhere.

In other traffic nightmares, the recent snow & ice storms caused a two hour delay in the opening of schools this morning. This is not a big deal although it frequently causes a second, delayed rush-hour in mid-morning after the initial rush to work. Alas, the highway work permits to fill in pot holes and repair guard rails were still timed to begin at 9 AM. As I was driving on the outer loop of the Capitol Beltway, I bore witness to the eight mile backup on the inner loop as they had lost two lanes for road repairs during this secondary rush hour.

My timing continues to be pretty good though: as I arrived at the data center, the radio announced the inner loop had re-opened and, despite heavy traffic and backups on the outer loop, the repair crews were about two close two lanes for repairs there.

There are going to be a lot of very unhappy people on the roads of DC today.

Rock 'em Sock 'em Commute

This morning's commute was a little dodgier than usual, both literally and euphemistically.

As I have frequently ranted in the past, there is a special level of hell reserved for motorists who do not clean the snow and ice off their car before heading out onto the streets, roads and highways. This morning, I was dodging huge slabs of ice flying off of various cars around me. Fortunately, outside of a few small snowballs, nothing of consequence struck my car but a few other vehicles were not so lucky; I can't say if they sustained any damage as my attention was required elsewhere.

In other traffic nightmares, the recent snow & ice storms caused a two hour delay in the opening of schools this morning. This is not a big deal although it frequently causes a second, delayed rush-hour in mid-morning after the initial rush to work. Alas, the highway work permits to fill in pot holes and repair guard rails were still timed to begin at 9 AM. As I was driving on the outer loop of the Capitol Beltway, I bore witness to the eight mile backup on the inner loop as they had lost two lanes for road repairs during this secondary rush hour.

My timing continues to be pretty good though: as I arrived at the data center, the radio announced the inner loop had re-opened and, despite heavy traffic and backups on the outer loop, the repair crews were about two close two lanes for repairs there.

There are going to be a lot of very unhappy people on the roads of DC today.