Is it me or are my commutes getting easier?

[Thor_MN]

Here in Minneapolis, it seems like there are a lot fewer cars on the road these last couple of weeks. My drives have been much closer to freeway speeds than the bumper to bumper that I am used to. Granted, it has been pretty dry, i.e. little snow over the last several weeks.

Is anyone else noticing lighter rush hours?

[peace13]

1. We were in Chicago this weekend.

Could have driven blindfolded. Go figure.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Not me.

But then, I have to get through that clusterf&ck where 35W meets the crosstown. Seems as bad as ever to me.

[Muttocracy]

3. are people taking public transit instead, or just not commuting? nt

[Warpy]

6. No, they've been shitcanned

and are spending their time at home, combing want ads and sending out resumes.

[Muttocracy]

10. when I lived in the Twin Cities the economy was booming and so was traffic. nt

[marmar]

4. Definitely so in the Detroit metro area......

The omni-directional morning commute in southeast Michigan can be an absolute hell, but it's been noticeably lighter over the last few years. It's still hellish in spots, but there seem to be fewer of said spots.

[beltanefauve]

5. Yesterday I had

to be in San Jose at 6:00PM and was driving down from Oakland. I left my house at around 4:15PM, thinking I needed all kinds of extra time since I would surely hit the commuter traffic and 880 really sucks. Well, I encountered no real traffic to speak of, and got to SJ twenty minutes early. The last time I saw this kind of a noticeable difference in traffic was during the dot com bust. Must be from the layoffs, I think.

[Dawgs]

7. The economy is in the shitter, but there haven't been enough job losses to make that kind of impact.

Mine still sucks.

[MineralMan]

8. I don't commute, but the traffic reports

here in the Twin Cities have been unusually uneventful.

[NOW tense]

9. Where I live it is dramatic. n/t

edited pathetic typing

[Sanity Claws]

11. I'm seeing fewer cars on the road too

The subway is as full as ever, if not fuller.

[rainbow4321]

12. Our local Tollway officials were whining not too long ago

Because they expected the number of drivers who use the tollroads to go back UP once gas prices started to go back DOWN..and that increase didn't happen. It was decided that the drivers who turned to mass trans when the gas prices went up decided to **keep on** using mass trans. Less drivers = less money to the Tollway people/company.
I've been taking mass trans since last July and it is still packed, especially the lightrail cars heading from the suburbs into Dallas.
They've had to start building more parking lots at the park and drive lightrail stations because the mass trans population has increased so much.

[FreakinDJ]

13. So many people laid off there is less traffic

I noticed it too

I'm in the SF Bay area

[Selatius]

14. People only drive when necessary during an economic depression.

They drive even less when they are unemployed.

[alittlelark]

15. Here in Silicon Valley I have noticed it over the last 3-4 weeks

Much lighter heading S on 85 from Los Altos.

[SheilaT]

16. I can't comment on Minneapolis,

or any other big city these days, as I live in Santa Fe.

But when I lived in the Kansas City area and drove my kids to their school every day (we sent them to a private school because of specific special needs for them) every Friday the traffic was slightly lighter and cut a couple of minutes off the commute. I eventually decided that some small percentage of people take Friday off, and it impacted traffic. I suspect that only a couple, maybe five percent fewer cars is enough to be noticeable.

[Thor_MN]

18. Yeah, traffic moves fine up to a point. And then gums up very quickly

We have been talking about it at work. Many of us noticed that the roads were less congested.

I think you are right, toss another 5% on top of whatever level of unemployement that * called low and muddled the books to make it look low and pretty soon the roads are freeing up.

Kind of ironic that infrastructure projects like roads, which should be part of the stimulus packages, are facing less need due to fewer car trips.

[rvablue]

17. Do you have commuter/light rail there? n/t