"Public transportation is such a waste of money! It will never see a profit! Now, how much do we need to budget for roadway repair?"

ShawnDoc: I'm not being snarky. Is there a legit reason for this? Or is this just poor planning?

I don't see why they need to close the ENTIRE road. Just close a quarter mile before the work and a quarter mile after the work, and move that down the road as fast as you can repave it. There was a stretch of I-81, just north of the I-78 interchange that was under construction for at least four years, and most of the time I'd drive by and it would be perfectly drivable on the other side of the road (often newly paved and painted) but closed because they were doing work FIVE MILES away.

Anyone who takes the Turnpike south of Bordentown is a moron. Anyone who pays the Delaware Turnpike toll is a bigger moron.

El Chode: My pr0n name is Tom Seaview: soj4life: the real backup is caused by the megachange in delaware.

If by "the megachange in Delaware" you are referring to the merge from I-295 onto I-95, it's pretty much fixed. The southern end of I-295, which carries all traffic from the Delaware Memorial Bridge over to join I-95 South, can be a bit tight, but that's mostly due to people swerving from side to side because they have no farking idea which lane they belong in. Once you get past the US-13 interchange, however, things improve markedly: I-95 South was widened, so the lanes from I-295 that used to end abruptly now continue almost all the way down to the tollbooth at the Delaware-Maryland line...

...and then you're farked, but thanks for leaving us your money.

I spent the last year living just off Naamans road in DE. I'm not sure if DE drivers are shiatty on their own, or they're just totally scarred from having to live with the constant surge of PA drivers coming in for tax-free shopping and six packs o' beer.

That clusterfark of an intersection was horrible this past may when I drove to Rehoboth.

small world, I have worked off naamans and marsh for 2 years now.

it isn't the pa drivers that are the worst, the folks from maryland take that prize.

My pr0n name is Tom Seaview: soj4life: the real backup is caused by the megachange in delaware.

If by "the megachange in Delaware" you are referring to the merge from I-295 onto I-95, it's pretty much fixed. The southern end of I-295, which carries all traffic from the Delaware Memorial Bridge over to join I-95 South, can be a bit tight, but that's mostly due to people swerving from side to side because they have no farking idea which lane they belong in. Once you get past the US-13 interchange, however, things improve markedly: I-95 South was widened, so the lanes from I-295 that used to end abruptly now continue almost all the way down to the tollbooth at the Delaware-Maryland line...

...and then you're farked, but thanks for leaving us your money.

it has gotten better thought the sandbox after the 5th lane was added, but only northbound.

it gets backed right when you exit the tollbooths, 12 lanes reduced to 4 with everyone trying to get into the left most lane. then you have north 13 enter onto 295, which shouldn't be so bad but impatient drivers are passing on the left into a lane that hasn't merged in yet.

you get through all of that and you are going southbound on 95 now. you hit a wall of traffic everyday from 4 until 6:30. the 5th lane is great in practice but in real life de drivers' driving habits make it useless. the fifth lane on the right side ends at route 1, but that doesn't leave 4 lanes of traffic humming along. the 4th lane is used by drivers that will don't want to wait in the exit lane and will instead drive up to the exit and then cut over at the last second to exit the highway; now only 3 lanes of traffic humming along. this arrangement causes other cars to pass into the middle lane so nobody gets stuck behind a car that can't move over; now only 2 lanes of traffic getting by.

after that, everything is usually fine until the tollbooth.

soj4life: it has gotten better thought the sandbox after the 5th lane was added, but only northbound.

it gets backed right when you exit the tollbooths, 12 lanes reduced to 4 with everyone trying to get into the left most lane. then you have north 13 enter onto 295, which shouldn't be so bad but impatient drivers are passing on the left into a lane that hasn't merged in yet.

you get through all of that and you are going southbound on 95 now. you hit a wall of traffic everyday from 4 until 6:30. the 5th lane is great in practice but in real life de drivers' driving habits make it useless. the fifth lane on the right side ends at route 1, but that doesn't leave 4 lanes of traffic humming along. the 4th lane is used by drivers that will don't want to wait in the exit lane and will instead drive up to the exit and then cut over at the last second to exit the highway; now only 3 lanes of traffic humming along. this arrangement causes other cars to pass into the middle lane so nobody gets stuck behind a car that can't move over; now only 2 lanes of traffic getting by.

after that, everything is usually fine until the tollbooth.

Dude... that's an extremely good summary of the problems with Delaware's portion of I-95 and 295.

I find that southbound has improved since the 5th lane was added. The secret is to stay in the left-most lane all the way through, hopping over each time new traffic comes in from 495 and 295. (Of course, I'm driving a white Crown Victoria Police Interceptor...

...so people fall all over themselves getting out of my way).
Staying hard left keeps you (mostly) out of the pileup heading onto DE Route 1 (arguably the worst interchange on the Eastern seaboard).
Enough traffic leaves the highway there that you're pretty much OK... unless you want to take the next exit for 273, in which case you need to cross those four lanes (through the survivors, accelerating away from the DE 1 scrum) and tuck into the right lane without hitting anyone coming up from Route 1.

It's a good idea to get off at 273 most afternoons, because you will hit the tollbooth pileup not much farther down the highway... or, if the road is clear, the DE State Troopers in unmarked Hemi Dodge Chargers will be waiting to prey upon the faster traffic.

valencia:
that's fine and dandy as long as you stay out of the left lane.

A million times THIS.

onecanshort: El Chode: onecanshort: El Chode: brigid_fitch: Joelogon: Which exits?

/No, seriously, which exits?

East Brunswick is Exit 9 & I'm pretty sure Mansfield is Exit 6.

It is. it's right where you can continue going south to Camden and DE, or break away to head into north Philly.

Also, while I enjoy the new bridge, it hasn't stopped the New Yorkers from stacking up all 4 right most lanes as they try to cut each other off to squeeze into the exit to Staten Island.

I don't think the rest of the world would care if NJ walled itself off from the world, and I'd be happy if the rest of the world stayed the fark out of NJ.

Have you been on it lately? As of about 2 weeks ago the entire northbound side of the bridge splits to 4 lanes right and 5 or 6 lanes to the left so all the fist pumpers going back to the Rock are isolated...stay left and you're good to go.



I'm glad they're finally fixing that part of the Turnpike, when they're done in five years, it'll be time to expand it again!

I need to hit 287 to get home to Boonton. I gotta get in that mess of arrogance

Oh damn, that blows. If you're coming from far enough south, like 105 and below, take 18....into Piscataway...Hoes lane to Centennial to 287. shiat sucks for a few miles of lights on 18, but during the summer since Rutgers is out, it's not much of a problem.

Yeah well my entire family lives in Point, so I am coming from that far south. I've just been avoiding 18 because of the construction that was ongoing (still is?) since I graduated from Slutgers in 2006.

I work in Piscataway now.

I could take the GSP all the way up to 78 and connect to 24, then 287 from there, but 78 always has some accident involving a pennsylvanian and a dump truck that closes all lanes in both directions. It's almost a guarantee there's a major accident on 78 at any given time.

Joelogon: Which exits?

/No, seriously, which exits?

It's the car and truck lane merger just north of 7A. So the area between exits 8 and 7A

I love this thread so much.

\Moved to TX 1.5 years ago.
\\Still misses NJ.

you know what would alleviate the road congestion?

my farking flying cars damnit!

Honestly - I spent almost all of my life in Jersey, Morristown, West Orange, etc. and then moved to Los Angeles.

OMFG what a bunch of retarded drivers in L.A.
Bumper-bumper stop&go traffic starting at 6:30 EVERY SINGLE DAY,like it is Memorial day at the shore
Traffic rubbernecking with two mile backups from someone changing a tire on the side of the road.
No one moves over from the Left lane
No one flashes lights at the slower drivers to make them move over.
Rain means that drivers think that roads are covered with teflon coated black ice, or they don't care at all.
50% of cars are SUVs (for all that snow we get here)
No one jumps across the light to sneak in the left turn.. Instead all the pussy drivers wait until the light turns red, then 2-3 cars casually make their left, making everyone else wait.
Passive, passive drivers.
People don't seem to get the concept of keeping the "box" clear so that if the light changes, other cars can go thru.

Oh yeah did I say traffic?

Sigh, I miss NJ/NY too

For those interested in all things car/truck/road related, a fun read named "Traffic" by Tom Vanderbilt- sort of a "Blink" type book.