There are so many problems with the DC transportation system that gridlock traffic is always guaranteed. Most cities either have a good subway/metro system or a good highway system so that people can get in and out of the city. DC has a pathetic metro system and a near-non-existent highway system. When a friend first moved here, he was ridding with a coworker back to the airport. Without much warning, all traffic on the highway stopped. "Shit," the driver said. "What's wrong?" my friend asked. "It's Saturday morning." "Are they doing construction on Saturday morning?" "No. It's just Saturday morning." "But why are we stopped here?" "Because it's Saturday." "Is there a baseball game or something going on downtown?" "Nope." "Shouldn't there be less traffic today." "That doesn't mean we won't get stuck in gridlock."
While in Houston, I became accustomed to how long a driving commute would take at different hours in the day. It wasn't too difficult to figure out. There would be heavy traffic on the I-610 Loop during rush hour, but the side roads usually flowed fairly well. I didn't realize how good of a road system Houston had until I got to DC. Whereas Houston has four major highways passing through the 610 Loop and crisscrossing through the middle of downtown like a tic-tac-toe symbol (a #), DC only has one 'highway' (maybe 2, but not really) the crosses through the 495 Beltway, Highway 295. Whereas the Houston inner-city highways are at least six to eight lanes wide to handle massive loads of traffic at speeds around 60 MPH, 295 is only 4 lanes wide and has a speed limit of 45 MPH. Late at night when almost no one is on the road it is possible to go faster than the speed limit. This road doesn't cross the Potomac or have a good way for commuters to get from the 'highway' to the city center. Instead, the road continues south to the 495 Beltway and away from where people actually work and live. In order to get around Maryland, Northern Virginia, and the District- where people actually work and live- commuters on 295 have to take city streets through the District by the Nationals Park, RFK Stadium, or New York Avenue that eventually lead to another highway, I-395, that connects Arlington and Alexandria to the District but doesn't actually go through the District. Since these commuters have to take city streets instead of the highways, the city streets are incredibly clogged with bumper-to-bumper parking-lot traffic. Therefore, there are no side roads commuters can use to bypass traffic on the highways because these roads are just as clogged as the highways. Finally, whereas Houston's 610 Loop is about 5 miles from the city center, Washington's 495 Beltway is 10 miles away. This distance means that getting in, around, and through the city is much more difficult because there are no good highways where people live. If DC had an inner loop highway like Houston and Paris, then this highway would be closer to DC than Bethesda, Silver Spring, Hyattsville, Alexandria, and Falls Church. I can hardly imagine how much easier getting to and from work would be if DC had a decent highway that close to the city. Traffic on 495 and other roads would be much lighter. It would be expensive to build, but expanding the metro system isn't cheap, either.
One would assume that this pathetic road system would mean that the metro and rail system is much more popular than driving. In another blog post soon I'll write about how driving in DC is better than taking the metro for most commuters.
As I've driven back and forth between my uncle's house and the Greenbelt metro station, I've learned little tricks about getting around the city. I now know when and where to expect gridlock traffic. I now know that the 'curves' on 495 around Silver Spring will be slow, even under the best of conditions, because drivers are too scared to drive the speed limit on those tight curves. I also know my way around Northern Virginia traffic around Centreville and I-66. I know that traffic near metro stations will be much worse than anywhere else, and I've learned which lanes are the fastest. These are all tricks-of-the-trade that locals know because they use the same pathetic roads every single day. I suppose every city has them, but in DC it's perhaps a bit different because the traffic is a disaster on the best of days. Newcomers and tourists have no clue. They'll get stuck behind 18-wheelers for twice as long as they need to because all these trucks are getting off at the same exit and use the same lane so that the other lane will go much faster. I learned that trick the hard way. There are also weird rules and laws that the locals know which newcomers and tourists wouldn't. Certain roads, like I-66, become HOV only during rush hour. Some lanes are open some hours and closed others. There are signs that warn drivers, but they aren't very clear. I know what the signs say because I've seen them dozens of times and talked to friends about these weird laws. Newcomers and tourists may not understand what is going on until they get a ticket, especially during heavy rush hour traffic when they're looking at the cars and not the signs.
All of these tricks-of-the-trade remind me of an old, dilapidated house. Everything is broken in the house, but once someone lives in the house long enough he learns how to make stuff work. He leaves the hot water running for a few minutes while brushing his teeth because the water would be cold otherwise. He jiggles the doorknob before turning because it would get stuck otherwise. He knows that the light switches were installed backwards so that he has to memorize which switch goes with which light. A newcomer or guest would think everything was broken, but he thinks everything is just fine and dandy. DC reminds me of a dilapidated house that newcomers have to learn gradually.
Yet there doesn't seem to be much desire to fix the road system. It wouldn't be too difficult to widen certain highways, but no one seems to care enough to do anything because most everyone is only here for a few years. DC isn't a city where people spend their whole lives. The political situation changes every couple years, so a lot of people don't seem to put roots very deep into the ground.
All that being said, driving is usually better than taking the metro. The metro is that bad.
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