August 28, 2006
The 495 Freeway?
The Washington Post ran a lovely Metro section article this morning chronicling progress on the mammoth effort to re-engineer the Mixing Bowl from a slapdash mess of on-ramps, merges, exits, and bottlenecks into 50 graceful bridges and 24 streamlined lanes of traffic. As we read the first few sentences of this little human interest-style puff piece, a curious trend jumped out at us.
The rest of the article followed suit, reporting responses from drivers that border on outright giddiness. We understand that those forced through the Mixing Bowl on a daily basis are relieved to have a safer and less congested commute. However, in a town that complains so often, so loudly, and with such good reason about traffic, we were a little surprised to find this much enthusiasm for the Angelino transportation model. Do D.C. drivers really have such lust for the asphalt spaghetti that ties Southern California together (or tangles it all up, depending on your points of view) or is it just a little Hollywood crush? Even more crucial, could the change cause D.C. drivers to begin to use the definite article when referring to our freeway system like they do on the West Coast?When Woodbridge resident Kit Oliva first drove across the new Springfield interchange ramp, she was whisked away to a place where the highways somehow seem a little more glamorous.
"It didn't feel like Virginia," she said. "There were so many lanes. It was like 'Wow, I'm in California.'"
Oliva is a postal carrier, and she braves the Mixing Bowl daily. Her sister lives in Southern California — a land of extravagant interchanges and famous freeways. Springfield's new ramp is a smooth ride, she said, with broad shoulders and breezy merging. Just like the ones in Los Angeles.
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Insert 'mixing bowl' pedant..
Keep in mind that these aren't "D.C. Drivers." If they're commuting up 95/395 every morning, they probably live at least as far out as Fairfax County.
Those of us out here like cars and lots of lanes. If we felt otherwise, we'd live in the District, or at least inside the Beltway.
That new fangled Springfield Interchange couldn't hold my jockstrap! *pfft* Mixing Bowl, indeed.
What's that old adage again? "If freeways solved congestion, then Los Angeles would be the driving mecca."
The definitive article is only used by those people from the Southland -- as in LA -- no self-respecting Northern Californian or Pacific Northwest resident would ever do so. It's the mark of the beast. Say "the 880" at a Northern California party and watch the conversation halt and the cold stares.
That being said, the freeways of the Western states are something to be hold. The amazing engineering and towering interchanges are awesome in the true sense of the word. (A U.Va. architecture history professor of mine likened them to medieval cathedrals.)
Oo, I get to roadgeek!
I don't think people are buying into the Los Angeles transporation model (or Atlanta's, just as easily) as much as they're doing two things: (1)expressing their fahrvergnügen, and (2)admitting that the transportation situations of DC and LA are more alike than many people care to admit.
That said, while you don't hear major highways described in the definitive in the DC area much, you'll hear some of them in the Hampton Roads area, like "the MLK" and "the 168". Usually it's only roads without interstate designations, tho.
I'll see your mixing bowl, and spot you an mixmaster.
Or your "beltway" and raise you a triple loop. And Houston's currently planning another, larger loop around the city.
I've driven extensively in both DC and Texas, and I honestly cant say that one is worse than the other. But in Texas, you usually have lots of company as you sit at a dead standstill in traffic.
LA and DC will never be alike....well maybe they are. DC traffic historically goes from suburbs to the district/Arlington /Alexandria. LA traffic destinations are less centralized as people go from one suburb to another. That’s how we have been different, until now. Our commuting patterns are becoming more similar as the growth of jobs in the suburbs has decentralizing our traffic patterns. So the LA pattern is the choice since its is the only way we can move that many people safely and efficiently (for now at least). Although, we must not copy their mistake of overlooking the need for a comprehensive mass transit system…. so build the purple line!!!!!
On another note, if we adopt LA's highway style, can we copy their freeway construction style? Back when I lived their during the 94 quake, it took them 1 year to rebuild an interchange as complicated as the mixing bowl. I literally saw them build one of those ramps in 1 week. Also, Freeway means free, it was labeled such so the newly arrived Easterners would use the highways system and not fear the all too common tolls.
RJ -- Ditto the construction comment. I don't know how LA does it. Northern California was STILL not done rebuilding in 1994 after the 1989 quake. In fact it too up until about 2000. (Although, Northern Californians are much more process oriented and took the 1989 quake as a program to rethink the entire region.)
As for LA and transit. Their new Metro is pretty fantastic. It only costs a $1 (no matter the distance) and has no turnstiles and is entirely on the honor system. And more lines are to come.
In fact, speaking of fast construction, LA has built the entire system in 1/8 of the time its taking to build rail to Dulles.
Is it crazy to say our traffic is actially worse than LA? My girlfriend is from there and swears it's worse here. We deal with 66 from Gainesville, so I guess we have it bad.
Anybody know when 66 widing will be done? Such a pump fake... it looked so close, then they started digging up the old road. Quite the bummer...
How about we improve DC public transportation to the point where you can actually take the Metro to get from one side of the city to the other -- and it doesn't require three bus transfers, a Metro Rail ride, and 2 hours of your time.
At least in Boston, you can take the T to access Boston itself AND points West via commuter rails (which actually DO run on the weekends).
And yea, improved highway systems would be nice too :)
homointhecity.blogspot.com
See what all the effing fuss is about!
Hopefully the area will adopt more of the West Coast's commuting techniques ... i.e. more bike paths and lanes for commuters.
Three Points:
I'd like to point out that the main difference between traffic in LA and traffic in DC is a question of capacity. LA freeways carry many millions more people than those in the DC area. There traffic is bad based on pure volume. Here it's bad based on poor road design.
Second, Chicago and Arizona also use the definite article when referring to freeways. My defense to my friends when I attended college in NorCal was that freeways are culturally important enough in the Southland to warrant proper noun status. This is the kind of debate held between college freshman, not adults. Just deal with it.
Third, Anyone who's driven empty LA freeways at dawn through (and under) those amazing interchanges can attest to their being the ultimate utilitarian artform. There were a couple of times when I damn near teared up at the beauty of it all. The cathedral comparison is entirely accurate.
Now I miss LA.=(
Kevin,
Does Boston rail have express lines like NYC? Multiple tracks? That's really what's preventing Metro from offering a quick commute, the fact that they refused to spend the extra money in the 1960s to build a third track.
I call your mixmaster, and raise you a can of worms.
are you kidding me?! The LA metro closes at 7pm and trains run about every hour. It is the most INEFFICIENT and HORRIBLE transit EVER. Took my friend 3 HOURS to get from DOWNTOWN LA to RIVERSIDE!!! If she had driven, would have taken an hour, maybe two during rush hour. Also, don't forget about the constant thick blanket of smog. I'll leave LA traffic where it belongs- LA. DC people need to stop bitching and moaning. You guys have a FABULOUS metro system with minimal delays. Now, I'm from the Bay Area, and grew up using BART... so I have cred ;) ... 880 is NOT the mark of the beast. Whoever said that is pathetically clueless. Try Interstate 5.
Behold their "cultural importance"... THE 110 freeway, also known as the Pasadena Freeway, is the oldest "freeway" on the West Coast, and still uses stop signs at its offramps. And when that sign says reduced speed to 5mph, it really means it! And Meg you're right, doing 80 down THE 210 freeway at dawn with NO ONE in sight, watching the sun rise in the distance is as powerful as traveling over a 16 lane stretch of HWY 1 watching the sun set over the Pacific. It's completely poetic.
The definitive really gives character to a mass of concrete and steel which I completely and totally respect, especially after the pictures of the Newhall Pass after the Lancaster quake and images of the the Bay Bridge after Loma Prieta. And after growing up in LA and going to school in NorCal and being ridiculed for my constant use of the definitive I have come to learn there are stretches of Hwy and Freeway that just sound wrong when referred to with "the".
Jane: That's what your friend gets for going to Riverside. No one should ever have to.
And Bay Area freeway hell is clearly either The (yes, the) Eastshore OR the (once again) 101. I guess there is something to these definite articles...
Well, at least I am not the only person to comment on the similiarity to California. Every time I go through there (2-3 times a month... since I generally see no reason to leave the inside of the beltway more than that) I almost always remark that the design clearly strikes me as a case of "California-envy".
If D.C. traffic is getting to be like California, I might as well move back to SoCal because at least the weather is better. Or I should finally sell my stupid car, since I mostly use Metro anyway.
I moved to D.C. two years ago partly I spent most of my life in SoCal sitting in traffic on the 57, I-5 and the 91. Don't get me wrong, I love California to death, but you can't beat a decent public transportation system.
Definite articles are also universally used to refer to highways in the Buffalo area, where I'm from. Didn't realize so many other (much more populous) regions use it too. I wonder if there are any correlations to the pop vs. soda thing here...
I've lived in D.C. for 7-8 years and never owned a car here--the Metro system does just fine by me. Don't know where you're going that takes 2 hours.
Philadelphia is like Boston in that it has a real commuter rail system that also runs beyond rush hour, unlike D.C.'s MARC and VRE.
Of course, L.A. once had the mightiest of all rail systems, the legendary Pacific Electric Red Cars that traversed the Southland from Mount Lowe to Long Beach.
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/redcars/
Wait, there is somewhere other than Southeastern Wisconsin that sweet bubbly stuff that comes in cans, Pop?
Hmmm, do they call a water fountain a "bubbler" in Buffalo?