I-95 Highway Mess Turns Out To Be A Good Thing For Philadelphia
The highway is open again, but the experience of having to close it down for a couple of days to repair weak supports, was a very good thing for Philadelphia AND the state.
First of all, it underscored the problems statewide for the highway and bridge infrastructure, a problem that the state has been warning about for years. It also was fortunate in that this particular problem was tackled before people were hurt. You have to give a lot of credit to Penndot for acting so efficiently.
The second plus was that a lot of people, who don’t need to drive, got a chance to see how good the Septa system really is. Trains and subways and buses were packed. That is a good thing, because maybe some of the new riders will stay.
Mass transit is a fantastic alternative to driving, especially when the transit systems covers the city and suburbs so well.
Of course, sales people, and area residents in a variety of jobs, have to drive. For them, it was a headache and at a high cost. Imagine sitting in a detour and burning up gasoline at $3.30 a gallon. The timing was bad. But the bottom line is that people are safe, and thousands were forced to use a public transit system that is under-appreciated and grossly underrated.
Larry you can be forgiven, blogs are a bit awkward for your generation.
Maybe you should start a mail campaign with all your thoughts for the week mailed out each Friday.
hello Larry,you are right on the money,the people have to change there ways about driving all the time,taking the mass transit or septa to work is great but also some people even the like to bike to work like i did, the main reason was septa went on a long strike in 1976 and i just kept on biking (schwinn letour)after the strike, into 37th and chestnut from n.e. but this was in the 70’s and 80’s but now it is just too many cars and rude drivers to even enjoy biking to work,the city and the state have to make alternate ways to go to work and advertise with public service ads and keep it safe clean and on time, it would help people be less stressed and cut down on the gas usage and keep money out of the greedy gas companies pockets,my son lives in new york and does not have a car he left it home and says new york mass transit system is first class,and last Larry,the people have to stop being so goddamn lazy start walking a few extra blocks.
It’s pretty clear that some SEPTA routes already need additional busses in service at peak hours. Good luck trying to cram your way onto a southbound 47 between 5pm and 9pm on a weekday!
Not only that, but SEPTA should definitely look into getting funding together to extend its rail network inside of the city. There’s an opportunity this decade, with oil prices at record highs, more affluent commuters living outside of Center City, and a growing consensus on the need for environmental sustainability to extend the network.
A great way to start: SEPTA had once planned on a spur line from South Philadelphia to West Philadelphia off of the Broad Street line, going so far as to lay fly-over track for future tunnels. SEPTA should implement those plans.
Ahhhh, the Schwinn Letour, Jack you were living large. I only had a used Schwinn Varsity, canary yellow. Philadelpians do need to get about themselves and use mass transit. It’s a way of life in NYC and is far superior to driving. The benefit of high gas prices is that the market will force people to conserve and find alternatives, $4 per gallon gas prices are the best thing for conservation. Obama is going to add further taxes to take it to $6 and force terrified white people onto mass transit to confront their worst fears, albeit not irrational. Black on white crime occurs at a rate of 139 times greater than white on black crime. So Obama’s honest speech on race has typical white people confronting their very rational fear of being a victim of black on white crime. Riding mass transit will also improve our national dialogue on race as we get to know each other better. Race relations in NYC are far superior and that’s because people of all races and classes get to see each other twice a day on the subway or bus to and from work.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Penndot for acting so efficiently”. I love it when you inject irony and humor into your musings.
Giving PennDot credit is a bit of a stretch. Thank goodness that guy stopped for lunch and saw the crack, sinece it’s obvious that PennDot is doing a lousy job of keeping up with inspections. Makes one wonder how many cracks are out there.
Hi JR,
The Clinton Machine is trying to change Hillary’s look. Here is your chance.
http://gielladesign.com/fun/hillary/hillary.html
I ride my Huffy in the Tour de Pennsylvania each year. On the Sckuylkill Expressway, it gets worse every year. That is saying something. Why did they build I-95 through east Philly and leave this dangerous dinosaur alone? It’s been a nightmare for 50 years.
I’m getting ready to take the training wheels off Ashley Olsen’s Huffy. You think she’s ready for the Sckuylkill?
I had a canary yellow Schwinn Varsity myself! It was a great bike. I then graduated to a silver Schwinn Super Le Tour 12.2. In fact I still have it,
(it’s in the basement).
Where have you been Larry? Stuck on I 95 for the past week? I must say that your blog is becoming consistantly more
inconsistant.
I do love the latest obama/wright controversy regarding “pastor” wright’s posting of a Hamas rant in the church bulletin last July.
We know that wright is a jew hating, terrorist/Al Queda sympathizer. A 20 year + supporter of wright makes obama
at the very least guilty by association. (birds of a feather as they say).
His supporters will continue making excuses but I don’t trust the guy!
Hulk, you need to get out of your parent’s basement and live a little.
So you’d rather see a known felon like Hillary in the White House than black dude with a crazy pastor?
I guess with all this global warming, it was a no brainer when Frank Rafter, PennDOT snow spokesman retired.
The scene: The White House Front Gate.
The Date: 2/1/2009
An old vet asks the USMC Guard for permission to see President Hillary Clinton. The guard says “Ms Clinton is not the President”. The old vet goes away, but conmes back 3 days in a row asking to see President Hillary Clinton and each time the USMC Guard informs the vet that Hillary is NOT the President. Finally, the guard asks the old vet why the old vet keeps asking the same question. The vet replies “I like hearing the answer’ The USMC Guard says “See you tomorrow, sir!”
JJ, very nice but I think JR has seen this already. In fact he’s in DC this weekend checking it out. His legs must be killing him by now.
Hey, Larry, if you think Philly traffic is bad, check out DC. The Tour de Pork Barrel is a killer.
JR is still pissed that I won Westminster.
So, Lance, are the French still ticked off about the illegal items they found in your room at the hotel? You know, the soap, toothpaste and deodorant?
I couldn’t get them through customs in France. They tried to take my RingDings as well.
Happy Easter to all!
The beneficial changes in I95 north to 826 is bringing Miami into a WORLD CLASS CITY for traffic flow. CANADA Toronto has had this for years, I’M A US CITIZEN LIVING IN cANADA FOR BUSINESS RESAONS. The little minds of Miami must become world class and know the difference between EXPRESS LANES and COMMUTER LANES. Express Lanes–are USED go to the NEAREST lanes PRIOR TO THE EXIT LANE into the commuter lanes DESIRED to exit. BRAVO MIAMI!!!!!