Car-mageddon

Newspaper’s across the US are reporting mass anxiety in LA due to traffic. The City of Los Angeles, one of the most car-dependent cities around, is raging as residents prepared for a 53-hour closure this weekend of a crucial segment of one of the most heavily trafficked north-south highways as part of a construction project. Hailed as Car-mageddon, according to reports the closure of the 16km section of Interstate 405, in the US’s second-largest city, the home of famously congested freeways and road rage, is sett to thrpw the city into chaos.

It brings to mind my stint in Los Angeles a few months ago. There are no words that can describe what it’s like to be stuck in Los Angeles traffic. We’ve all been in traffic jams, we’ve all been held up by car accidents on major freeways. But its the daily grind, the permanent, omnipresent congestion that drives people to despair. Eventually you run out of self help podcasts and end up ringing up a partner child or friend for an argument to kill the boredem and vent some hostility!  And we only had to do the 5 hour return trip each day over the period of a week. But a twenty minute car trip took us almost 3 hours one way, creeping, creeping along the very highway that is being closed down. It was the same on the way home. I had a hairdressers appointment and paid hundreds of dollars in Beverly Hills to look “amazing darrrrling!” but by the time I got home to where we were staying my hair was standing on end, and frizzy from the sweat of aggrevation.

So now things are going to get worse for the next few days? Worse? All I can say to Los Angeles people is that your city is beautiful, the Canyon is awe inspiring, Your beaches delicious. But my heart goes out to you for living so much of your lives in the slow lane. I can’t imagine how The Eagles even knew a “Life In the Fast Lane” existed!

 

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4 Responses to Car-mageddon

  1. Ruth Ostrow 18 July 2011 at 3:55 pm #

    Thanks Hymie I am not a big fan of bikes on the road, they cause accidents. Who knows the answer. I would hate it if our towns in Australia looked like LA.

  2. hymie 18 July 2011 at 11:22 am #

    Interesting article about the traffic problem, its becoming pretty bad here and I see people putting on make up, reading papers and texting while waiting in build-ups.What is the solution, more roads or just hopping on our bikes. thanks for bringing these controversial issues to us all

  3. shoshana 17 July 2011 at 4:39 pm #

    Ruth, I remember years ago being in Los Angeles and then New York and was shocked at the traffic jams, and it is evidently worse now. A friend and his mates used to use Walkie Talkies to warn each other [before Mob phones ] where the traffic problems were and they would whiz around all different ways. It will happen here in time I am sure. Lots of families are two and three car people. We all need to relax more behind the wheel [I should talk] My kids learned to swear from me driving!~

  4. Ruth Ostrow 16 July 2011 at 7:59 pm #

    Post comments here guys 🙂

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