Saturday, February 13, 2010

Snow Room

It’s a front page above the fold story in The Washington Post and The Sun. Though The Big Kahuna and Kahunageddon 2.0 have left us they left behind a legacy of snow mountains and snarled traffic.

It took me an hour to get from Columbia to Ellicott City last night.
The problem is twofold. One, the roads are operating at a greatly diminished capacity with lanes still clogged with snow. Two, the road crews are still working to open up the roads even as residents attempt to return to some degree of normalcy.

This snow is taking up a lot of space.

In Ellicott City this afternoon there were virtually no parking spaces available on Main Street. The snow was occupying them.

In Parking Lot D the snow was hogging at least 15% of the remaining parking available.

We’re going to be living with this stuff for awhile.

And yes, finally after one week, I got both newspapers delivered today. One was sitting in the driveway when I woke up and the other arrived after lunch.

The later delivery was probably tied up in traffic.

2 comments:

Bob O said...

Two observations about driving that have really come to my attention since the big snowfall:

1. I drive around Howard county, and the roads are really pretty well plowed, and they get better with each snowfall as the new snow crews (and by "new", I mean, never spent a winter in Minnesota or Wyoming) gain more experience (did you know that there are actual books written about the best way to plow roads in snow? Go figure.). As soon as I cross a county boundry, the difference is immediately noticeable. Carroll County, not bad. PG County, a nightmare. Montgomery County, not as much of a nightmare as PG, but getting ther. Anne Arundel, not bad but marginal. HoCo definitely is learning and getting this right.

2. I'm astounded by the ignorance of drivers in any of these counties, although it seems to get worse as you approach D.C. Lanes will disappear, sight lines will be obstructed, patches of ice will come out of nowhere, and heavy equipment will be out there moving snow. Duh. So hang up the cell phone and get a clue phone--road conditions before, during, and after weather events like the ones we have had can change rapidly. And, btw, courtesy in driving might get you to your destination five seconds later...but it will get you and probably several other people there in one piece.

Eludius said...

My 12 minute commute from Eldersburg to Owings Mills is still taking 30-40 minutes.