Self-Adulation is a Bad Thing

For commuters in the Washington Metro Area (which includes Maryland, Northern Virginia and DC) there are plenty of traffic sore spots to choose from when looking to sit in traffic for hours on end for no apparent reason. Whether it is the back up on I-66 at all hours of the day or night (weekday or weekend be damned); heading north on I-95 in the morning or heading south on the same route in the evening; going through the Springfield interchange; or crossing the bridges from one state to another, there are more than enough places in which to sit and stew. Some projects undertaken in recent years have been aimed at making that commute a little better. The multi-billion dollar revamping of the Springfield Interchange was one. The building of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge is another.

For several years I was one of those downtrodden whose daily commute included crossing the Wilson Bridge and getting into Springfield via the Interchange. My commute at the time was about 45 some miles and should have taken an hour at the most. I usually ended up spending anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours on the road during at least one part of my commute (either in the mornings or on the way back) so it was with some degree of satisfaction that I heard the Wilson Bridge was being expanded and improved. Part of the problem had been the fact that there was a natural bottleneck formed when the highways on both sides of the bridge would suddenly go from four or five lanes in both directions to only three (on both sides) on the Bridge. Naturally being the egotistical and self-centered drivers that the majority of us are, we didn't let anyone merge in front of us so gridlock was a natural outcome.

The improvements on the bridge utilizing a new span were supposed to improve these problems and make them go away and while the time of construction was quite painful at times, the delays were seen as temporary as the new bridge would alleviate the problems. So it was with some amount of joy that commuters heard that the bridge span (one of the final phases of construction) was complete and would be opened this month. It turns out that it was yesterday. It also turns out that many people didn't know about it. Not content with a simple affair, a fairly complex program was assembled complete with stages, dignitaries, VIPs, marching bands, the whole shmear. Although word was apparently let out it wasn't let out enough for many of the commuters who ended up stuck in traffic for up to an hour and a half, just to cross the bridge.

Set up for the 11 AM ceremonies obviously began early on Thursday and though the new span is not yet officially opened to traffic, it is close enough to the existing bridge for people to see what is going on on the new span. So being creatures prone to rubbernecking, many commuters began slowing to a crawl to gawk at the proceedings. The result was 7 to 8 miles of back up which lasted for much of the morning. Even after the ceremonies ended and the invited guests had already left. Now while I think this was certainly a cause for celebration, celebrating on a weekday during rush hour is probably one of the worst decisions that planners of this whole shindig could have chosen. Rather than having a gala for the people who actually put the Bridge together, there are politicians and VIPs talking about how they helped put this project on the map and what it would mean to commuters.

All the while, commuters were busy honking their horns and shouting expletives at the assembled crowd. I guess people were just so thrilled that they couldn't find the words to express their joy so they resorted to cursing out everyone on that bridge. The completion of the bridge is a landmark accomplishment in a place where commuting is often measured in hours rather than minutes but it doesn't help when politicians add to the problem by doing nothing more then self-adulation on the bridge. I mean many commuters are already irate that such projects are often funded at the cost of other programs such as education or through the ever popular (and sarcasm is indeed needed with this statement) increasing of taxes. At least now that the ceremonies are over, there will be less time for patting one another on the back and commuters can look forward to less commute time. At least that's the hope.