Traffic woes

"News flash - we need more lanes in our major arteries in the metro area."

Back in the day when I worked at Control Data (by the airport in Bloomington), I made a request to my boss. Because of where I lived, I requested to "flex" my hours from 8 to 5 to 7:30 to 4:30. Back then, flexing even for a half hour was rare. Now truthfully, if we had customers in, or of course if I were on travel, that would not work. But as a normal course of events, it worked fine. If I could leave at 4:30 instead of 5:00, I could beat (this is true story) the traffic "bubble" and be home (north of the metro area) before 5:30. In other words, I would drive the 40 miles in less than an hour. If I left between 5 and 6, all bets were off.

Yesterday, my son-in-law (who is currently is living with us) and works in Minnetonka made it home in an hour and a half. That distance is not nearly as far as I would drive when I worked. And he left a 4pm. Now if he can make it home in an hour or less by leaving at 4, that is a VERY good day. Most days however, it is an hour plus. Sometimes two hours. And why? Don't we collect enough money to expand our current roads? Absolutely. But we are spending 40% of our transportation budget on bike trails and choo-choo trains which very few people ride.

Even though our version of Governor Moonbeam, as well as his lackeys in the Met Council are trying to socially engineer us to death, it is not working. News flash - we need more lanes in our major arteries in the metro area. Some have not been expanded for a decade or more, when our metro population was much less. And by the way, fewer people are working downtown. Why? It sucks. It is expensive. And companies are choosing more affordable rent with free parking for their employees.

Even though Highway 10 has been improved in different spots, it is still a mess. Especially on Friday afternoons. It is worse in the summertime, when it is also a main escape route up north. Ditto for Highways 169 and Interstate 94. Expansions to these roads are long overdue. And expansions take time. Permits, buying land from private concerns, and then the construction itself. If can take years.

I feel badly for the young people just starting out careers today. As much as they will learn from their employers, they will also learn something from the state they live in. This state will tax the socks off of you and then stick you in gridlock traffic because they don't want to spend money on roads and bridges. Just choo-choo trains, which we all end up subsidising anyhow. Welcome to Minnesota.