It’s an old story. In Oklahoma, minutes and miles are essentially interchangeable; 10 miles means 10 minutes, 30 minutes means 30 miles, and so on.
Twice this week I’ve ended up stuck on I-270. Although I’m approximately 55 miles away from Washington, D.C, the only way I could make it from here to D.C. in 55 minutes would be in a plane. Driving, it took more than 2 hours.
It always starts well. The ride from where I’m staying to Germantown isn’t bad, but that’s where the problems begin. The people of Germantown have a propensity to pull on to the Interstate and just park. Seriously, that’s what it looks like. (The part where it goes from four lanes to two doesn’t help, either.) There are only a few exits to Germantown, but I sat stationary for almost 20 minutes.
And while you’re not moving there are plenty of signs to look at, like the ones that say “Trucks: No Changing Lanes”. Trust me, trucks are not changing lanes. Just like the rest of us, they’re not moving side-to-side (or forward for that matter). Then there’s the speed limit sign that warns you about speeding. “Speed Limit: 65mph. Your Speed: 7mph.” What a joke. I would be surprised if anyone had ever hit 65mph on that stretch of road.
I know some of it is where you were raised and what you are used to, but I’ll take living in Oklahoma over this traffic any and every day of the week.
“Miles = Minutes” in New Mexico as well (and more like “3/4-minutes” in some places). I cannot for the life of me imagine how people on the Eastern seaboard can be happy living in that part of the country all having to drive on top of each other like that.
As a witness to this myself, I can say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I will never ever complain about Oklahoma City traffic again.
In Wisconsin, we barely bother with describing things in miles. We pretty much exclusively use minutes.
As someone who has lived in the area my whole life, I can tell you that you never get used to it. The DC beltway and the connecting I-* roads are some of the worst in the country. The north east side and I-270 specifically are slow from around 5 in the morning until after dark. And if it’s raining, it’s locked up regardless of the time.
I came across this note and just had to agree wholeheartedly! I used to complain about traffic here in Cleveland but after I had to make random business trip to D.C. I learned what driving hell was like!
Also, they always want to abuse me by having me check-in on a contractor of ours in Germantown “while I’m in the area.” So they always book me a room in Germantown but then expect me in downtown D.C. first thing the next day.
Learned my lesson the hard way… (I was so naive then!) haha!