Thursday, May 1, 2008

Traffic Congestion



Think traffic is bad where you are? We all hate sitting in traffic. I know it ruins my work day when I have to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic. But I couldn't imagine doing this every day. I would change my job if I dealt with this on a day-to-day basis.

Today I found a link on MSN led to this website today: the areas of worst traffic congestion in the United States. It's kind of interesting. Check it out:

1. Washington DC
2. Atlanta, Georgia
3. Los Angeles, California
4. San Fransisco, California
5. Houston, Texas
6. New York, NY
7. Riverside-San Bernardino, California
8. Chicago, Illinois
9. Dallas, Texas
10. Boston, Mass.

Why is Texas so crowded? I never would have guessed that. What do you feel was left out? Which are understandable?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Traffic in Texas IS rediculous. TJ and I went on a spring break vacation there a few years ago to stay with a friend at her parents' house. They live right outside of Houston, and as we were driving from the Houston airport to their suburbian home, I couldn't help but notice the highways and flyovers and overpasses and underpasses... it's incredible. Pam's mom told us that her husband and their youngest son (then 4) had a long-standing joke/competition to see if they could make it to the top of a portion of the highway where there were 6 roads on top of one another.

Pam's mom also gave us some insight as to why there would be so much traffic: Dallas and Houston are THE biggest cities in the state (aside from Austin, the capitol). She said that most of the state was farmland and ranches, and if a person was to do business in Texas, it would be in Houston or Dallas.

I'd be interested in studying the cultural aspects of each of the busiest cities. I'm curious to know why these cities have the most traffic (obviously, it's because they have the most people living and working there, but WHY?)

NYC is obvious: It's a place for business, pleasure, arts, sports, travel, or whatever else. Are the other "most traveled" cities similar to NYC?

Call me a weirdo, but I actually don't mind sitting in traffic... unless I have somewhere to be... which is not often... I dont know why... I just really don't mind traffic.

Interesting post. I've missed commenting :o)

Jami said...

I never thought about that point you made about Texas. Texas surprised me the most because it doesn't seem like a busy place at all. But when you concentrate all the business in the state into two or three cities, then it must get pretty clustered.

What I want to know is, what can the state do about it? It seems hard to decongest (if it's a word) traffic or fix the problem. Especially in NYC, what can you do? It's fixed. Nothing you can do.

I'm glad you're back!