The problem (s) with North Central Expressway
Back in 1991 I remember city officials sinking a shovel into the ground at Walnut Hill and North Central and we all thought, “Oh boy, here we go. A decade of construction on I-75.”
But I think things have gotten worse since they finished contruction. The problem: The drivers.
Several nights a week I take a short segment of North Central from Park Lane to I-635. I would hazard a guess, that 80% of the time there is at least one accident in that four mile span. Easily!
Last night there were three separate accidents. It took 20 minutes to go that short distance.
Shouldn’t we be using those nifty big signs over the freeway to say: “Twelve accidents this week alone on this stretch of highway. Don’t be number 13.” Or, “Here comes Royal and Forest. Time to put down the cell phone!”
If only the bad driving were confined to Central.
New Years Eve, between 8:30 and 9:00 PM I was east bound on Forest toward east bound 635 to exit at Plano Road. In that short stretch I encountered
1. A car in the right lane of Forest with her left blinker on waving cars who wanted to enter LBJ around her. Once they were all passed she turned left into the one-way, oncoming frontage road and then into a fast food joint.
2. A car in the right lane going 35 MPH while the rest of the trafic that wasn’t stuck behind him was doing the speed limit (minimum).
3. Three cars aggressively weaving through all lanes of traffic at speeds in excess of 90.
4. A pickup truck loaded with household belongings, with it’s hazard lights on, doing about 20 MPH.
5. After exiting and stopping at the light I saw two cars in succession blow the red light southbound on Plano Road.
It’s a pity Dawin wasn’t right.
Poor Glenn… I guess that’s the price you pay for living in Plain-o. :-)
Well, let’s not forget that was New Year’s Eve. Any other night it would have been four infractions instead of five.
Will we see you tonight?
Yep, see y’all at 6 at Cafe Express…
Whenever I give someone directions that include I-75 I always tell them that as soon as they hit a bottleneck they should exit. Just drive up Greenville Ave or whatever surface street is available. Otherwise, you’re just making yourself suffer.
See y’all tonight!
6 or 7 tonight? The email said 7….