Traffic Rant
It has been a while since I've been this angry. I can't hold it back any longer.This morning, I left 10 minutes early for my 25-minute commute to work. And yet, I got to work 15 minutes late. That's right. My 23 mile commute took 50 minutes this morning.
Was it snowing? No.
Raining cats and dogs? No.
Wind blowing crazy ladies on bikes? No.
For the third time in three weeks, some company north of Madison has been transporting large oversized loads of steel beams at 7 a.m. on a weekday. Seven. Freakin'. AM.
Do you have any idea what this means?
It means two gigantic tractor-trailers with at least 15 feet of steel beam exceeding the length of the vehicle and hanging out into traffic. It means four pace cars with flashing lights. It means four state police cars with flashing lights. It means, traffic backed up from here to the North Woods.
I do not deny that they should have equal access to the nation's highways and byways. What I take exception to is the self-centered act of trying to maneuver these oversize, overweight, dangerous, traffic-vexing loads onto the interstate during rush hour traffic on a workday. Wouldn't it be safer and more considerate, I ask the world at large, to wait until traffic from the morning commute to wind down before hitting the road? Or, if it must be 7 am, perhaps we could leave on a Saturday or Sunday morning?
But my rant does not end there. Oh no!
Clearly this endeavor requires some planning if you have to involve pace cars and state troopers. As such, would it be too much to ask, if the 7 am on Thursday appointment is non-negotiable, for the state troopers or the Wisconsin DOT to post one of those flashy-flashy mobile signs, warning commuters at least 2 days in advance of the tie-up of on ramps to the interstate and urging them to take alternate routes?
For cripe's sake!
IDIOTS!
