If traffic is so bad...

[JQ Public]

I think the highway traffic here isn't so bad but the traffic on the secondary roads stinks.

[Sayantsi]

Originally Posted by librarySue

Ya'll keep commenting on the traffic in the area. When I visited I didn't find it anywhere near as bad as the DC area. Wednesday I drove around Baltimore to get to DC and enjoyed the usual crowds but no particular gridlock (I was just early enough to miss the worst of it and did not go through any construction.)

But I got to thinking, if traffic is so bad, why not implement some HOV lanes or park n rides to encourage carpooling like DC does? Is there a lot of carpooling in the area?

Like others said, its all relative. DC/Nova traffic is terrible - getting stuck in a traffic jam at 2 pm on a Sunday was ridiculous when I lived there. Other than rush hour and Capital Blvd all the time, traffic is not generally bad in the Raleigh area, but we keep getting new roads to accommodate the growth, unlike Nova and DC.

Traffic isn't bad enough in the area for HOV lanes or for mass transit other than buses at this point.

[cry884]

There is NO carpooling in Raleigh. You can drive by a row of 35 SUVs and literally there will only be the driver in each and every one of them. Absolutely disgusting.

[ncsualum2004]

Originally Posted by librarySue

Ya'll keep commenting on the traffic in the area. When I visited I didn't find it anywhere near as bad as the DC area. Wednesday I drove around Baltimore to get to DC and enjoyed the usual crowds but no particular gridlock (I was just early enough to miss the worst of it and did not go through any construction.)

But I got to thinking, if traffic is so bad, why not implement some HOV lanes or park n rides to encourage carpooling like DC does? Is there a lot of carpooling in the area?

Bad is subjective and honestly not sure why I should compare here to DC? There are places that are worse than DC who would probably think your traffic is no big deal . I used to live in Winston-Salem and traffic here in Raleigh is worse. Plus as someone who has grown-up in the triangle I have seen is get more congested. I live in Raleigh and my parents live in Durham and the traffic on I-40 is bad enough that I watch the traffic reports to wait and see what time I will leave when I decide to visit them.

IMO carpooling isn't going to work for the average salary worker. My previous company many of the hourly workers took advantage of vanpooling but, they knew what time they were leaving everyday. Technically my hours were 8-5pm but who really works that these days? Combined with the fact I often went to gym after work, ran errands, or had some other social event carpooling is very impractical. I imagine those with kids would find it even harder.