Why Boston Traffic Sucks So Much

The Boston area has been recently deemed the "Worst Traffic in the Country!" A dubious honor and with, what I had previously imagined, totally unbeatable competition!

San Francisco for instance, was my first 5 lane traffic jam which I had the pleasure to experience on one of my trips around the country. I had at one point managed to get off the elevated highway and when I had to get back on a few hours later, I would swear the same cars were there from when I had gotten off.

New York City is another perennial championship contender in traffic terror rankings. Hours long backups can occur without logic at any time of the day or night. Anyone who has taken 2 1/2 hours to cross the George Washington Bridge at 1:00AM, like I did, will understand what I mean.

One time a group of us were caravaning to Philadelphia from the Boston area. With our friends directly behind us, we, the lead car, just managed to get by a traffic accident in the NYC stretch of I-95. We got to the hotel in Phili at 6PM, showered and sat at the bar to wait for our friends. We were still at the bar when they finally rolled in at 10:30PM.

So traveling the old New England highways and byways just ain't what they used to be. The entire Boston area and well past it's suburbs is just grinding to a standstill with thousands of lost hours spent rolling, in a halting and jerking manner, in masses of wasted humanity in an endless stream of automobiles from the time you manage to take advantage of a distracted driver to find your opening and squeeze your way out of your driveway and into the ceaseless caravan of traffic that will, eventually lead you to the highway...where you will join a larger group of trout swimming upstream until you, eventually, arrive at work knowing full well in the back of your mind you will be doing it all again in reverse to return to your not-so-bucolic suburban home.

And you do it because where you live is way cheaper (though not cheap) than living closer to Boston yet you don't dare give up the money you can earn by working there.

So you get in your car and drive. Or at least you try to drive, into Boston every goddamned day.

It's a living...or is it?

Until recently, it took me 1.5 hours to drive the 26 miles to work and not much less to get back. Close to three hours a day to cover 52 miles. That's about 600 hours per year. Just spent in traffic.

So how did we get here?

Blame Eisenhower

We all know the story of how Eisenhower, when he was a general during WWII, admired the German's Autobahn and their ability to get troops and equipment across the country quickly. So he wanted to do the same thing with the United States. Problem is, the U.S. is 3000 mile across. And we already had a Transcontinental Railway.

But that didn't stop President Eisenhower from building his national highway system. Which cut the American rail system to pieces, cut major cities in half and forced everything that should have been on rail onto the road. I suspect a major lobbying effort was made by Detroit automakers at the time since the American auto industry took off along with the highway system. More roads, more cars.

Now some can argue whether this was a good or bad thing but the sacrifice of the rail system hurts us to this day and the short-sightedness of the highway system has cost us billions of dollars to modify, maintain and correct. What used to go by rail now goes on the road and not too long ago Boston spent $ 17 Billion of mostly Federal money to fix the central artery and join the city that Eisenhower's highway had cut in two back in 1959. Back then the 6 lane (3 lanes in each direction) highway could accommodate 75,000 per day. That's a drop in the bucket for what's going through there today. Plus the Big Dig didn't do a thing to make the road wider.

So much for progress.

The Unfinished RT I 95 Project

Interstate 95 is the nation's longest highway, running 1,920 miles from Maine to Florida but the most important part of this road was the 10 miles that wasn't built when it was supposed to run straight into the city of Boston. Although it had loads of neighborhood opposition, it was ultimately stopped by environmental concerns in the Mother Brook watershed area that the highway was to parallel on it's way into the city.

So what we get is local RT 128 North is now also RT I-95 which joins RTs 24 and 3 in sending all its Boston area traffic onto the same local route in an incredible snafu that daily commuters suffer with every day. Had it been finished, RT I 95 would have provided a third access route into Boston and relieved traffic on the Expressway, RT 93 North, which is such a nightmare to travel in the morning that it is dubbed "The Distress Way" by it's put upon travelers. Think about what could have been while you're sitting in traffic. I do.

Thank Mayor Menino

During his 21 long, long years in office, Mayor for Life, Thomas Menino did everything in his considerable power to keep middle-class housing from being built in the city of Boston.  Under his steely eye the only housing that got built were either high-priced luxury condos or low-income only "Projects" for "da poor". and nothing in between. Every time some developer wanted to put up something else, Menino would raise the threat of bringing back Rent Control. Nobody wants to invest if the building is going to be under rent control since capping rents will eventually cause them to lose money. So subsequently the average wage-slave can't afford Boston real estate and so are pushed farther and farther out to find affordable housing.

Fortunately, I guess, the new mayor, Marty Walsh, started his political career as a Union Thug so he's been giving the boys at the Union Hall plenty to do lately and is building, building, building everywhere. But it's going to take at least a decade to repair the damage Mayor Menino did just so he could say he was the longest sitting mayor in city history. That's quite an ego driven goal since he couldn't ever hope to match former mayor Kevin White's list of deeds and accomplishments. Perhaps Marty Walsh can do it.

The Benjamins

Since I finally managed to take a heaping pay cut to get off of the road to Boston, I wonder why more people don't just give it up and find a job in the suburbs where they live. I mean, life is too short to be miserable and so why would any sane person sacrifice all that time, aggravation and wasted time to commute up to 3 hours one-way into the city?

I mean, besides the money. You can only make Boston money IN Boston.

Poor Public Transportation

The MBTA Commuter Rail is expensive and doesn't go nearly everywhere it is needed and inadequately serves the suburbs. A Zone 6 one-way ticket is, as of today, is $ 10.50, a monthly pass is $340.00. But if you have to park, the parking fees for MBTA lots charge from $5.00 to $7.00 per day. Monthly parking rates have a range of $35.00 to $157.50. This doesn't reserve you a spot btw so if the lot is full, you're on your own.

There are buses into the city but they're on the road too.

Everyone is a Road Tech 

And just to make things interesting, ie: worse, everyone and their brother is driving around for work. Everyone today is a Road Tech. The locksmith is a road tech, the windshield repair man comes to you, the people who hang your curtains, service your copiers, waters your company's plants, shreds your sensitive papers, delivers your water, delivers your groceries, fixes the coffee maker, walks your dog, delivers your lunch and empties your waste-paper baskets are ALL on the road driving around to different clients all the time. We can also throw in ride sharing services, airport limos and taxis.

I had a phone interview with this place in Mansfield, MA and the HR person says that the person who takes this job has to also provide in-person service to their other location in Burlington, MA. I said "That's impossible, that's a 2 hour plus drive in the middle of the day and way longer if something should snag traffic. But they wanted to hire ONE person for BOTH locations and put them on the road to save money. So I told them "good luck". I don't know if they ever found someone to do that drive or if they smartened up but that ad was out there for a long time. What a bunch of cheapskates!

There is now Amazon Truck out there driving around along with Federal Express (Ground & Express), United Parcel Service and the US Postal Service. I regularly see Amazon vans delivering packages as late as 8 PM on a Sunday evening.

There are cable tv techs, satellite tv techs, painters, furniture delivery and repair people, security camera people, plumbers, electricians and building supplies people, all out on the road FOR work while you're trying to get TO work.

I was talking to a Ricoh Printer tech the other day and he told me they don't even have an office. They just get up, go to the car and drive right to their first appointment. If they need a part, they just have it delivered to the site or a deliver hub and pick it up there. All they do is drive around.

Just like the rest of us.

Pope Loses Mind, Thinks He’s Michael Bloomberg!

Global Warming? Gender Equality? Gun Control in America? Middle East Politics? There is no limit or extent of world issues this new leader will take on and combat. 

And just who are we talking about here?

Why it’s the POPE!

Somehow the Pope has become bored with just one religion; he’s gone and joined a number of new ones.

First is the Global Warming Cult. You are either a Believer or a Denier. There is no middle ground and if you don’t believe then you are going to HELL!

Then there is the recognition of the bunch of militant Arabs on Welfare that currently occupy the Gaza Strip. They are now officially recognized as "The State of Palestine" by the Vatican. Pope Francis believes that the world should believe what he believes.

This is starting to look and sound eerily familiar.

So, has anybody actually SEEN Michael Bloomberg, the former Crazed Mayor of New York City, lately? Has he gotten a supreme make-over and somehow managed the old “Switcher-oo” and so is now living disguised as The Pope? If he has managed to pull off one of the greatest body-switches in the history of the world, then all these crazy actions and announcements make perfect sense. 

The Pope is actually Michael Bloomberg! It's just that simple. 

If not, Pope Francis has sure gone crazy.

And then there is the people who manufacture armaments and weapons, GUNS to be more accurate. They are hypocrites to call themselves Christians now.  This would mean that, since the United States is the world’s largest munitions manufacturer, an industry, by the way, driven by the U.S. Government’s demand for salable arms for export to foreign markets, that almost half the population of the United States shouldn't call themselves Christians now. That is, even if they wanted to.

Someone call Mr. Bloomberg right now, I’ll bet someone will say he’s “out of town and can’t be reached’. But WE know the truth.

Pope Francis and Michael Bloomberg are one and the same.

Ok, I have no concrete proof and I know Bloomberg officially left office Jan 2014 while Francis was already the Pope since the previous March but SOMEHOW Bloomberg did it and here’s why: Since he was no longer the Crazed Mayor of the largest city in the United States, who would listen to his crack-pot rantings now? Who on God’s Green Earth would listen to him if they didn’t HAVE TO listen to him like when he was Mayor? The television stations had to broadcast him and the newspapers had to cover him and all the substantial public workforce that the city of New York employs needed his good will because their jobs depended on it but once he left office, that's all over. Without the title of Mayor, Bloomberg is just another guilty rich person spouting off on things he has no business spouting off on. 

Enter The Church. Love the new Pope or hate the new Pope, you’re stuck with him until he kicks the bucket. He can say just about anything, do anything and everybody has to clap and cheer in public. THIS was too much for Bloomberg to pass up. This was the job he was always meant to have!

Oh come on now, it's not so far fetched as it seems. If you know anything about the public rantings of the former CM of NYC, it's not like Mr. Bloomberg has never imaged what it was like to BE the Pope, right? In many ways he already thought he was.

And like most crazy people, he didn’t wait for it or work for it, he just took it. Perhaps Bloomberg, leaving a body-double in his place in New York, flew to Buenos Aires, had the leader of the Argentine church kidnapped, bought off the Argentine government for short money and eventually rigged the election for Pope by stuffing $100,000,00 bills into offering boxes in all the voting eligible Bishop's church communities. Once ensconced in the Papal role, his body double hands over the reigns of NYC to new mayor and aspiring junior crazy person Bill de Blasio and nobody is the wiser. 

Stranger things have happened. 

So what’s next for our Global Do-Gooder? I’m surprised Francis hasn’t gone after the smokers yet. Yes, let’s get THOSE PEOPLE too. Will the Pope propose a world-wide cigarette tax? How about a “Tobacco isn’t Christian” campaign?

And those people who cross the street while the "Don't Walk" sign is lighted? Yes, those Jay-Walkers must be pointed out and SHAMED! And driving while texting! Oh, and all that trash left up in the Himalayas by all those mountain climbers, get them! And somebody must determine the morality of driving an UBER car!

Damn, the whole world is going to Hell.

Good thing we have Michael Bloomber...ah…I mean, Pope Francis around to help.

Crazed Mayor of NYC Appeals Level Headed Court Decision

Does the city of New York run itself? How much time does Michael Bloomberg have on his hands these days that he feels the number one issue in his city is sugar water? Over 400 people in NYC are murdered each year, rats infest the upper West Side, violent crime is up, taxes are increasing and all Mayor Bloomberg can think about is how fat some people are getting.

But he is really only ahead of the curve. Once National Healthcare kicks in in fully, the Government will use it as a reason to legislate ALL behavior it deems “bad”.  This will be because it’s the "People’s Money" they will be defending.

Back in the old days, if you were on your own health plan, paying your own way and you had health issues related to an unhealthy lifestyle, it’s YOU who would pay for it in higher premiums and costs of hospitalization. BUT, now that your health care comes from one big pool of money, Comrade, it’s OUR money and the Government, as “Protectors” of the Common Wealth”, will certainly feel obliged to intervene. 

Make sense?

Hope so because it’s been happening in Massachusetts since shortly after RomneyCare came on line. As a plan, it has NEVER run in the black. MassHealth has lost money yearly and resists every effort to stop the red ink. Costs and deductibles go up and the level of care…goes down.

What der Mayor has tried to do is just what he feels he is entitled to do; keep social healthcare costs down by MAKING you behave. Mr. Bloomberg feels that bringing the force of law and the government boot to compel your adherence to “good habits” is now his job as Mayor of the city. All that other stuff about crime, corruption and street violence can wait. 

A totally sane approach if you ask me.

As they would say in not-so-merry old England these days; “The King is a Nutter!”

And so what if Manhattan’s Supreme Court Justice Milton A. Tingling Jr. saw the ban for what it was, an over reach by a bored incumbent narcissist who may or may not actually believe that the sugar water ban would actually save a life. 

Doesn't the good justice know who he’s dealing with?

But only Bloomberg knows better and whether the ban does any good isn’t the point. The point is that Bloomberg himself FEELS it will.

And that’s all that matters.