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Dr. P-J's Blog

Driving North to Baltimore Past the Pig Lanes

8/3/2021

6 Comments

 
8/3/21
Drove back to Baltimore from Fredericksburg, hauling a load of dishes and clothes and whatnot from one of the storage units. Mama Bear is cleared out and Papa Bear should be cleared out by next Tuesday. That leaves Baby Bear - all high value items - books and paintings. We're getting there . . . 

Driving through the construction of the new HOV toll road on 95 got on my nerves so much that I invented a new name for those lanes - the "Pig Lanes."

Virginia let a contract out to an out-of-state builder to install a toll road down the center of Highway 95. The charges for this one way road are astronomical - only wealthy people can afford to pay that rate on a regular basis.

So when traffic is stop and go all the way from Quantico to Fredericksburg, which it is frequently, the poor people can watch as the wealthy fly by in the Pig Lanes. The incredible expense of these special roads, with immense ramps and other structures and waste of lanes (two lanes going only one way at time where four lands could be fit) will NOT improve traffic flow. Far from it. What the Pig Lanes do is ensure that the rich people won't have to get in the slow traffic that regular people must suffer. 
​
The rest of the drive was much more pleasant, after we got past the Pig Lanes, and the slide show shows some of the views that intrigued me on the way home.
​
6 Comments
Diane Charles
8/4/2021 04:02:49 pm

Pig lanes is perfect. As you say they do nothing to alleviate the interminable traffic jam that is I-95 either coming from or going to DC. It is certainly a deterrant.to any thought of spending a day touring a museum in DC. I'll bet the museum in Baltimore was way more attractive, when faced with the choice. Im sure the traffic between DC and Baltimore is somewhat better.

Reply
Shelley Pineo-Jensen link
8/5/2021 03:44:05 pm

The difficulties of the drive are peculiar on the beltway around DC: young men in cars built for speed race through moving traffic going 100 mph or more. The drivers are expert, but their victims are not.

Sometimes these speed-racers can be seen, pulled over, leaning against their expensive cars talking on their cell phones. Perhaps they have diplomatic immunity - they are certainly nonchalant.

Other times in their wake they leave drivers shocked into collisions. They miss our bumper by a few inches . . . it's hard not to slam on the breaks, but that's the secret - just drive your normal pattern and these wealthy hoodlums will veer and dart around you.

You can't make this stuff up.

~ Dr. P-J

Reply
Diane Charles
8/7/2021 03:18:46 am

You just get in the far right lane (non exit) and drive like the old person you have earned the right to become. Oh hell! You get on my tail and I will cut to a crawl. This is my power. Also avoid these roads as much as possible

Jimbo
8/9/2021 06:39:34 am

Here on the " Dead " Coast , ( before the 1000 year drought took over , we were the West Coast ) , the " Rich Pig Lanes " are called FASTRAK . The privatization of public resources is a method to extract the public's collective wealth to select individuals in positions of authority , both public and private . This practice is outlawed in " real " democracies in Europe , for the simple reason that it creates endless opportunities for corrupt behavior . This topic should be front and center in State and County elections , because these are the folks giving away your freeways . Toll roads , by definition , are intrinsically unfair to the little people like you and me .They are a daily reminded of this nerve numbing transition we are in , from a representative democracy to an autocratic government run by a select few fabulously wealthy and privileged individuals .

Reply
Shelley Pineo-Jensen link
8/9/2021 07:39:23 am

RFO*, Jimbo, RFO

*Right "Fracking" On

Reply
Diane Charles
8/10/2021 08:12:57 am

that's Reich fracking




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Shelley Pineo-Jensen, Ph.D.