The reason my commute home took 3 hours today

[theeye]

Based on my experience last night, I thought my commute home from NJ to NYC wouldn't be bad tonight. I was wrong.

As I got within sight of the toll booths to enter the NJ Turnpike, I saw a large number of police cars converging on the toll plaza with lights and sirens. Traffic was at a standstill.

I was within inches of missing the last exit before the toll and I made a split second decision to take it and head over the Pulaski Skyway to Rte 1/9 North as an alternate approach to the George Washington Bridge.

This is an irreversible decision. Once you get on the Pulaski Skyway, there's no way off for a long time (as I once discovered when I had a tire blowout there).

Traffic quickly backed up and came to a complete standstill. My nerves were frazzled. I didn't know what the problem was. The police action (for h I still don't know the reason) had me nervous. I had managed to forget my cell phone AGAIN and couldn't call my husband to tell him not to worry. And I was trapped on top of the Pulaski Skyway with what would have been a nice view of the WTC in an alternate universe.

The reason for the delay? Hundreds of people were converging on Jersey City to take pictures of the new skyline. The traffic report was now broadcasting urgent requests of people to avoid Jersey City at all costs.

I'm staying home from work tomorrow. The President will be in town and I'm guessing they'll close all the river crossings again. No way am I getting trapped outside the city again.

[Mrsfitts]

When we lived 90 miles from work, normally it would only take 2 hours max to get home -except for a Friday in Feb, May, July, Sept, Wed in Nov, and whatever day in Dec. -then it took 4 hours.

Staying home on those days is a good idea. The last year we lived there, the rivers in N. California all flooded. All the farmland in the Central Valley towns of Manteca, Modesto, Tracy were under water. People stopped on the freeways to get out of their cars to take pictures of all that water. Unfortunately there were no shoulders as the roads were raised for possible flooding... Yep, right in the road people got out of their cars and started snapping pictures. It took 7 hours one Friday to get home...

It was bad during the Loma-Prieta Earthquake when it took 3 hours to get home every night, but this was worse. It was also the final straw. I now live 3.8 miles from my work. I could bike, walk or even take a bus if I had to.

Both of the disasters that affected my commute didn't take more than a month to recover back to commute normalcy... I suspect that your commute will be trying for a long time to come. Time to pack your trunk with an ice-chest and keep it stocked with drinks, chips/fruit, etc. Pack a small bag of change of clothes and reading material, bring a lap-top, basically turn your car into a mini-motel like we had to...

Good luck
Pam

[sarahgutch]

I think everyone in the NYC area has a story or loved one who was there...
My husband works in the AT&T Building at 32 Ave. of the Americas, just south of Canal Street... what a terrible thing to see and hear with your own eyes. His building was evacuated and he joined the tens of thousands who were trying to get home, with most transportation out of Manhattan shut down, all he had was his two feet. He ended up in mid-town and eventually was able to get on the "A" Train uptown to the George Washington Bridge to join the throng wanting to get across. By then it was closed to pedestrian traffic -- he was directed to a line of about 5000 people waiting for shuttle busses and people climbing into strangers' cars headed across the bridge. Then a shuttle bus pulled right up in front of where he was standing--he took the ride to the NJ side... I drove to meet him on 9W and brought him home about 12 hours after the attack.

My sister-in-law, who also lives in NJ, drove out to LI to do some field work and could not get back, no way, now how. She tried to take the Port Jeff.-Bridgeport CT ferry but the line was miles long. She doesn't know a sole on the Island but a kind stranger brought her for a bite to eat. In the meantime, I had called my cousin whose son stood about a block from WTC when the first plane hit... his kids all work in Manhattan and they were all ok, but he felt like he needed to do SOMETHING. I granted his wish by asking him to take in my sis-in-law, which he did. What a relief.

New Yorkers may have a terrible rep for their manners under normal conditions, but to see and hear the heartwarming stories of folks helping each other in crisis... it just makes me cry.

Abbie

[theeye]

I stayed home today out of fear that, with Bush in town, I wouldn't be able to get back home if I went to NJ.

Now my husband is coming home. They're evacuating his midtown office again.

Life is not going to anywhere near normal for a long time.

I'm just thankful that my son is young enough that I don't need to explain to him what's going on. I can't begn to imagine what those of you with older kids are going through.

[Mrsfitts]

Audio Books, books on tapes. If you don't own any, the public library system has HUNDREDS that you can check out for 2 weeks at a time, or your video stores have them for 5-day rentals.

Many long drives were made very pleasant listening to Miss Marple or Sherlock Holms or Jack Ryan solve cases (Agatha Christi, Arthur Conan Doyle and Tom Clancy) I also love trashy romances that are read by Judith Light (from Who's the Boss) she has a very cool reading voice. And I've heard the ENTIRE Dragons of PERN collection (Anne McCaffrey) on tape -those are excellent.

I really feel for all those who have been affected by this. When we had the big earthquake and half the roads were closed, we weren't too happy when they closed even more for the Presidential parade....

[AmyLEnsor]

Originally posted by theeye
[b]Now my husband is coming home. They're evacuating his midtown office again./B]

My husband said his brother was evacuated from his office today. Is there something else going on, are they worried about the stability of the buildings, or is it more bomb threats?

[theeye]

It seems to be more bomb threats. There were 90 threats yesterday -- none of which turned out to be real.

[AmyLEnsor]

Sheesh! I hope they can get some of those people making the threats. Who knows where they are being called in from though. I suppose it could be more terrorist work just to make things more complicated all around.