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I was driving east on the tappan zee at rush hour on thursday...traffic was fine my way.
However, going west on the thruway from White Plains over the zee...traffic was jammed.
To me, this would seem to make not much sense.
Consider, I understand that there is a funneling affect because motorists need to cross the river and that there are not many train stations in Rockland.
However, Rockland County only has about 270,000 people...and beyond Rockland you have to go along ways to Orange County...which is pretty rural.
In a sense, it seems like the tappan zee is route for long distance drivers avoiding the GWB and some commuters, but not like North Jersey, since Rockland isn't that big and the rest is rural.
Also...if these commuters are from NYC...they still have the NJ PATH...and the tappan zee route to Rockland is much longers, by miles, than the GWB.
So my question
1) Why is it so crowded?
-Is it commuters?
2) If so...who are these commuters?
-Are they mostly NYC workers or Westchester going to Rockland and Orange?
-Why not do the GWB which is more direct?
It could be due to the people who think the line forming is not meant for them! So they go directly to the exit and cut everyone off forcing the line to get longer and longer. This is very apparent at exits that do not have any merging 1 or 2 lanes that flow onto another highway. Engineers can design access for little or no delay but they can't design in to compensate for ignorant and inconsiderate attitude from some drivers.
There is also the group of drivers who actually think it's ok to drive 10 miles an hour faster or spurt up in front of you, on either side right or left, just to get another 10 - 100 feet further. You can't believe they actually take the time to look ahead to see if there is any where to go but in someones face/space. That just causes a everyone behind them to have to break and slow down.
Yes I was confused about that too, because I've taken the bridge west at several non-rush hour times, even at around 9 or 10 at night, and still had to come to a near halt because of traffic! There was merging, and some work being done on the bridge itself, but considering that there's not even a toll, I was surprised by how backed up it was that late.
I was coming from Westchester and going north, so there was no sense going south to the GW to go back north, and I've been caught enough times on the GW bridge to know that sometimes it just is horrible for no apparent reason that I can tell, especially on the upper level...but I sort of expect that anytime I have to use a city interchange.
Orange County is hardly rural anymore. It has more people than Rockland (albeit 3x the area) and is one of the fastest growing counties of the state. Yes it has some farms (but less than even 10 or 20 years ago) and looks more rural than Rockland but it's bigger than you think.
It does not take that many people to clog three lane or even four lanes. Its a good example of why mass transit is so important in urban/suburban areas. Fortunately the state is considering building a new Tappan Zee Bridge and that MIGHT include a rail line to connect Rockland and Westchester counties.
Also remember, some people start going away on long weekends on THURSDAY nights now. On Friday nights, the traffic to the tourist areas can be a major PITA. At least it is here on Long Island.
So you will have people from NYC and LI crossing the Tappan Zee while going upstate. And you will people from New England crossing the bridge (and avoiding the GW Bridge) to the Delmarva beaches and points further south.
Orange County is hardly rural anymore. It has more people than Rockland (albeit 3x the area) and is one of the fastest growing counties of the state. Yes it has some farms (but less than even 10 or 20 years ago) and looks more rural than Rockland but it's bigger than you think.
Orange County I thought was rural.
I've driven it from I-84 east to west and I-87 to I-84...and aside from Newburgh...it seemed pretty rural to me.
Still haven't answered my question...why is the bridge so crowded at rush hour?
Who are these people...commuters...and from where (NYC? Westchester) and going where (Rockland/NJ/Orange)?
Orange County I thought was rural.
I've driven it from I-84 east to west and I-87 to I-84...and aside from Newburgh...it seemed pretty rural to me.
Still haven't answered my question...why is the bridge so crowded at rush hour?
Who are these people...commuters...and from where (NYC? Westchester) and going where (Rockland/NJ/Orange)?
Regarding your first sentence, much of it is rural, but much of it is not. When I was a kid in the 70's, your description would be quite accurate, but a lot of the new developments are "hidden", especially along I-84 (though west of rt. 17 in Middletown it does get very rural). Speaking of rt. 17, you will see a lot of housing developments until a little past Middletown, then you start to really see some farms and country.
Regarding your question, if it was afternoon rush hour, it was people going home to Rockland and Orange counties from Westchester, even in the 1980's the Tappan Zee Bridge was famous for traffic (Rockland was only a tiny bit smaller than than it is now). If it was morning rush hour, my guess is the movable concrete barrier they put up a few years ago. To make the horrific morning commute into Westchester easier, they probably set it up so there was only a couple of lanes going in so the fewer people reverse commuting from Westchester (and Fairfield) into Rockland and extreme northern NJ were screwed as they underestimated how many lanes they needed that way.
Another possibility is a couple of people slowed down to look at the view while driving and messed everyone up behind them.
So the traffic is Rockland/Orange country residents who commute from Westchester...NOT NYC?
I really am surprised you say Orange County is not rural...because after Sloatsburgh even Rockland county to me appears rural.
Orange county is pretty far away.
These people commute to both Westchester AND NYC. Because there's no direct train from the West side of the river to NYC, many come across the bridge and take the train from Tarrytown into Grand Central.
So the traffic is Rockland/Orange country residents who commute from Westchester...NOT NYC?
I really am surprised you say Orange County is not rural...because after Sloatsburgh even Rockland county to me appears rural.
Orange county is pretty far away.
It is rural in the sense that Putnam and Dutchess Counties are rural......there are certainly farms and rural areas unlike most of Westchester and Rockland County (you're only in Rockland a couple of miles past Sloatsburg), but there are a lot more people there than there were even 20 years ago and the population is bigger and there are more developments, etc. than it might seem from the highway.
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