Twin Cities Rush Hour Drivers: “%#!&!#$!”
How bad is rush hour (or any hour) traffic in the vicinity of Highway 100 road construction in St. Louis Park these days?
Bad enough to evoke the existential play, “No Exit” — and to seriously steam me and doubtless thousands of other Twin Cities drivers.
0-for-5
Trying to get back to the Edina Realty – City Lakes office (on Minnetonka Blvd. about one mile east of 100) around 5 p.m. the other day, here are the various strategies I employed, to no avail, coming from the west on 394:
Strategy #1: exit Highway 100 south: nope, backed up at least one mile;
Strategy #2: go east on 394 to Penn Ave. exit, then south to office thru Minneapolis’ South Bryn Mawr neighborhood, then around the west side of Cedar Lake: nope, same one mile backup (to well before Highway 100);
Strategy #3: exit Park Place Blvd, to Cedar Lake Rd east: OK until within about one-quarter mile of Highway 100 overpass, then hit a line of at least 100 eastbound cars waiting to get through 2 stop signs on the other side of 100.
Strategy #4: go west on Cedar Lake Rd to Louisiana, then to Highway 7: nope, Cedar Lake Rd. westbound was gridlocked.
Strategy #5: reverse course on Park Place Blvd; go north (over 394) to Glenwood; then go east (over 100) to Theodore Wirth Parkway; then head south . . . where I ran into a stopped line of at least 200 cars all trying to do the same thing.
Total elapsed time to cover the last 2 miles to the office: 45 minutes (at least).
All together now . . . A-a-r-r-r-g-g-h-h!!!
P.S.: I know what the 1% would do in Manhattan: rent a helicopter.
More realistically, how much inconvenience and lost productivity does there have to be before the Transportation Dept. opts to pay overtime and do road work 24/7, to finish projects in one-third the time?
And no, that’s not a rhetorical question.
