Traffic o traffic!

This Big Dig thing better be worth it.

It took me 2 hours to go 9 miles yesterday. Frustrating, to say the least. I could almost see the fumes arising from people's ears in each car. Everytime, I take the carpool lane when it's open, cos I figure that'll be faster, but yesterday, the carpool lane was the slowest. And it was almost like a punishment, cos I couldn't move over to the other lane. Why on earth would anybody build a median between the carpool lane and the other lanes? What is the point in a law abiding country like America? Stuck in the carpool lane, while I see other cars whizzing by. Of course, they had to stop too, a couple of hundred feet away. How on earth will I ever be encouraged to carpool again? All I can say is that the country has lost a potential carpooler forever. Take that, you Boston!!

Take the other main road- Massachusetts Avenue. With a city that boasts of Harvard and MIT, you'd expect better traffic rules. But Mass. Ave has turned into a case study of "how not to be", at least in my school of urban planning.

Firstly, it's not a straight road, but be as it may that 'straight' is not hip in Mass, that's pardonable. Then the signs for the road are all turned. So, at almost every intersection, you'll find Mass Ave turning left or right. And bcos it's entirely possible, you turn too, thinking street signs are supposed to, well, signify. But after a couple of blocks, you realize that it's not Mass Ave after all. So you figure you can make a couple of turns and get back on Mass Ave, right? That's where you'll be making a mistake.

After that one turn, you'll find a "Square", that has streets radiating from it in all directions, and none of them will indicate the whereabouts of Mass Ave. And bcos you'll be in the 'left only' lane, you will be forced by honking cars(really it's the driver that honks, right?) to turn left, and this is the only place in the world where a sense of direction is actually counter-productive.

If you had no sense of direction, you might bump into Mass Ave at some point. But if you did, you have a big problem. you think you know where you are with regard to Mass Ave, but Mass Ave is like one of those company secur-ID things, that change numbers every minute or so. It moves every 5 minutes or so. (That's probably MIT's contribution!) So while you steadfastly hold on to your notion of direction, and keep driving toward it, you're actually moving away from it- kinda like a desert oasis (I'm huge on similes today, aren't I?). And of course you cannot stop anywhere and ask for directions, cos parking is impossible.

If you finally get on Mass Ave, and try to get to your destination, there's a problem of what lane to stick to. The left lane is supposed to be faster, if only it weren't for those left-turning vehicles that switch on their indicators only in the last moment. And you're stuck behind that car, looking for a gap in the right lane to switch to, while people pass you looking at you like you're the greedy person who got his due. "Wanted to go fast in Boston, did you?" they seem to say.

Eventually if you do switch to the right lane, there's either 1) a bus, that stops at every block, or hundered feet, whichever is closer, or 2) a double parked vehicle, with a police man leaning on it and having a coffee(why don't these guys get tickets ever?- while I get tickets for every imaginable thing?). Of course, now the left lane zooms by, and there's no left turners. Why can't Mass Ave prohibit left turns? Beats me. Probably because there's no way then that ppl can get back on it, ever!

And in downtown Boston. You see huge signs for I-93 splashed over some construction thing happening. Come to think of it, I think anyone can just dig up a road, and put some kind of sign, and people would assume it's to do with the Big Dig. There might just be a lot of people doing that right now. Most of these sites are, I'm sure, doing nothing really. Just digging roads up and filling them back on.

Anyways, I follow the huge sign, and there's no sign of the Northbound I 93. I try all kinds of combinations, but absolutely not. Seems almost like a deliberate attempt to prevent people from going North. Just too frustrating.

And God forbid, you ask someone for directions. People in Boston only know the way from their home to their office, and wisely enough, they stay out of every other route in Boston. But ever helpful, they help you nevertheless, content that they have helped a person, cos they don't see you get lost just around the corner!

But a sign that is ever-present, and crystal clear, is the direction to the Airport! I was driving about 15 miles West of Boston, and I see a clear sign for the Airport- "Airport- Best Route" it said. And throughout downtown, I find nice clear signs for the Airport. Makes you wonder if it is a city policy to encourage people to leave the city? People might get so lost that they might just be like, "Screw it, I'll go to the place that has clear signs", pack their bags and leave. Infact, that might just work with me!!