Friday Afternoon Traffic...OYE!!!

[ExFlyBoy5]

So I haven't really had to deal with traffic in a while, until today. The plan was pretty simple; have lunch with a high school friend that I haven't seen in a while. He owns his own business and wanted to do a late lunch (about 1)...no big deal. So, about noon, I head out so I will have plenty of time to get there (I was driving about 40 miles to meet him). Well, when I got there, he had some fire to put out and thus, our lunch was pushed back a little. No big deal, I am retired, after all. Well, once we finally caught up and decided to wrap things I up, I notice it's almost 3 PM...uh-oh...I was most definitely outside my preferred "retiree drive time" of 10 AM to 2 PM. But hey, it can't be THAT bad, right?!? WRONG! I got home about 10 minutes ago, so my trip took 2 hours and 10 minutes and it was MISERABLE and it's not even 5 o'clock yet!!! So, to all of you that have to deal with this madness every...single...day...I am very, VERY sorry.

Here's how Atlanta traffic is looking like right about now. Ugh.

 

[Corporateburnout]

We usually avoid certain highways between the hours of 10 and 2 as well. Few weeks ago my brother and his wife invited us to lunch and they only live about 40 miles away but on the other side of the city. Normally we would leave around 10 AM and return home after 7 PM but DW had a haircut appointment in the evening so we decided to leave his house @3:00 and take the HOV lane but unfortunately there was an accident inside the HOV lane. She never made it to her 5:30 PM appt.

 

[MRG]

I have no idea how I was able to stand the commute. For 10 years I had a 62.5 mile one way commute! One and a half hours on a good day. Then if it rained some moron would fly off a bad corner(same one every time) wrap the vehicle around a telephone pole(same pole but brand new) every time.

Honestly for the first month that was my enjoyment in retirement, watching the traffic reports. Today I wouldn't even know where to look for a traffic report.

 

[Big_Hitter]

my buddy the big_bopper was stuck in the 290 HOV lane behind a broken down bus for 90 minutes the other day

and he's a traffic engineer

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Honestly for the first month that was my enjoyment in retirement, watching the traffic reports. Today I wouldn't even know where to look for a traffic report.

I still take a listen on occasion or pull up the maps to see what's going on outside of my no traffic 'bubble'. I had debated after retiring going out and sitting with the masses every now and then to remind myself how sweet retirement really is, but I haven't done that yet...and don't think I will do it either. I am pretty sure it sucks. Every. Single. Day.

my buddy the big_bopper was stuck in the 290 HOV lane behind a broken down bus for 90 minutes the other day

and he's a traffic engineer

Ugh. I would NEVER want to tell someone I was a traffic engineer. That would be about as bad as telling someone you are an attorney!

 

[Big_Hitter]

one thing i don't miss about working in htown - I had to commute around the traffic...and weather

a traffic jam here lasts maybe 5 minutes

 

[gauss]

I have found that my tolerance to traffic delays has increased significantly since getting a new android smartphone. The navigate app displays slow traffic patches in red which shows how long (in distance) the delay is.

Much easier to swallow if I know it is only 2 miles vs 30 miles.

-gauss

 

[MichaelB]

So, to all of you that have to deal with this madness every...single...day...I am very, VERY sorry.
.

I have that exact same thought every time I find myself driving in rush hour traffic, and especially friday afternoons.

 

[Corporateburnout]

I have no idea how I was able to stand the commute. For 10 years I had a 62.5 mile one way commute! One and a half hours on a good day. Then if it rained some moron would fly off a bad corner(same one every time) wrap the vehicle around a telephone pole(same pole but brand new) every time.

I barely tolerated my 40 mile commute especially on a snowy winter day when it took a couple of hours.

For the last couple of winters watching the morning traffic nightmares on TV by my warm and cozy fireplace while sipping my first cup of coffee has been priceless.....

 

[GrayHare]

The commutes are worst between Labor Day and Thanksgiving since that's when the most people are in town and working.

 

[rodi]

Coming back from picking up the kids from school I saw the traffic on the other side of the freeway was already a parking lot - and it was only 2:45pm.

I'm a mean mom - I make them take the public bus to school in the morning because my return trip from their school would take almost an hour. (Vs the 15 minutes to get to the school in the morning.) I dread the evenings there is a meeting at their school - because it takes an hour to get there.

My commute was only 6 miles when I worked - but it was taking 40 minutes (or more) by the time I quit. It was a factor in my decision to retire.

 

[HillCountry]

I am home already. Friday commuting is like other days, 15 to 20 minutes. Very happy.

 

[Bamaman]

The problem is most jobs in the Atlanta area are in the northern and northeast quadrant of the city. Too many people are moving to this 10 mile stretch from all over the city at the same time.

I left Atlanta 13 years ago because the traffic was debilitating. My company closed their Tucker, GA operations and I had to travel across town to spend my work week out of town. Some mornings, it took me 2 hours just to get up to 55 mph.

Life just wasn't worth living in such a place and having to put up with so many people is so nerve wracking.

I recently had to drive into the city at noon from our place in the northern mountains for business. It looked like rush hour in any lesser metropolis.

 

[Souschef]

Los Angeles Traffic

Having moved north to Ventura County when I retired, I love sitting at home in my robe drinking my coffee and looking at the traffic map of Greater LA with all the red on it on TV.

 

[braumeister]

Just think about how much worse it is in the cities that are in perpetual rush hour. Los Angles comes immediately to mind, as does London.

 

[txtig]

With nine weeks of retirement under my belt now, I can say without a doubt that not battling fellow commuters and crazy texters for hours every day on Houston's Southwest Freeway is one of the best things about retirement (right behind not spending 10 hours per day putting up with the corporate BS).

 

[Gumby]

My current commute is 50 miles one way. On a day with no problems, it takes an hour. Unfortunately, most days have problems. My life would be substantially better if people would just stop running into each other.

 

[Aiming_4_55]

Having moved north to Ventura County when I retired, I love sitting at home in my robe drinking my coffee and looking at the traffic map of Greater LA with all the red on it on TV.

Sorry OP, I hope the business owner bought lunch.

I deal with the LA traffic daily, the 405. The freeway if you are lucky travels 4 or 5 miles per hour, thus the name 405 ;-)

I bought a Prius Plug-in just for the HOV sticker. The sticker is valid until 1/1/2019. I guess I have a FIRE date I'm FI now, just padding the travel, 529, and emergency fund.

 

[scrabbler1]

Last Friday night, I had to derive my ladyfriend from her place (it's near my place) in Lynbrook, NY (Nassau County) to LaGuardia Airport in nearby Queens. Most of the time, it's not a bad ride, maybe 30 minutes. But try it during the evening rush hour (we left at 5 PM for her 8 PM flight) and that time doubles. I mapped out a route on the back road because the parkways are jammed and it worked out fairly well, just took a lot longer.


The return trip was tough, too, now that I was heading with the outbound rush hour flow. I could see the worse outbound traffic as I was heading to the airport and it was grim. I had mapped out some alternate routes but I couldn't get to them right away. It took me about 20 minutes to go the first few miles before things loosened up some on my back roads. Took me about 70 minutes to get home, making it a 2-hour round trip.


She is returning to New York this Sunday so it will be an easier trip, and coming to a different airport.


How anyone can drive in the NYC rush hour every day is beyond me.

 

[brucethebroker]

It seems like the "little traffic window" of 10-2" no longer applies on Fridays. I have noticed that Fri. lunch hour traffic now creeps into early afternoon. Must be many taking early leave on Fridays......

 

[John Galt III]

In my town there is a classic rush hour around 5 PM. But traffic is also pretty intense at other times of day. I can't find an actual window of "low volume", except maybe 10 PM to 4 AM. Occasionally there is low volume outside that window. Just way too many people have discovered my town, moved here, and are clogging up the roads. I long for the good old days when the roads here were empty and we had about 50% fewer traffic lights.

 

[target2019]

Where I work, many are watching Google maps, studying the time results as the roads turn redder between 3 and 6. There are opportunities, but not many, to trim time from the commute. For 20 miles, mine is 45 minutes on average.

 

[gayl]

Last week it took me an hour to go the 8 miles to work. .... this week I'm off until whenever I decide or forever

 

[Philliefan33]

A year before I was ready to ER, the company I w*rked for moved operations 18 miles further away. That move increased my commute from 10-15 minutes to 50-60 minutes. The commute was a big factor in my decision to ER. If we were still at the old location I may have stayed OMY.

There are times now, when the weather is nice and I can do some of my errands via bicycle, when the car doesn't move for 5-7 day stretches. That's fine with me[emoji4]

 

[Badger]

I never had nearly the same problem with traffic as many are posting. It was frustrating enough with all the lack of attention that drivers have whether during rush hours, from tourists, or during holidays. It is, however, more that just frustrating when riding a motorcycle. Living at the edge of the east coast there is a compound effect with beach traffic from the town folks especially during the summer. But now with school in session and the weather getting cooler the traffic in and out from the beach has settled into more predictable hours and I can be more selective on my driving times. That has been a nice luxury for the past few years.

Cheers!