do you know where you is

Friday Feb 1st 2008

The title of this post is inspired by a Frank Zappa album name.

You’ve heard me wax on about how people have an over-reliance on highways when driving anywhere.

Well, here’s a small tale about that from last nite:

Tampa, like any other metro area, has interstates. And because there is a crapload of traffic on a daily basis, the town is courteous enough to perform planned repair work at night. Night construction is commonplace in and around Tampa Bay in general. In addition, there are always signs posted several days in advance that more or less say “Hey! You! This road is going to be under construction from [this date] to [this date] at night. Consider yourself informed. Have a nice day.”

Small note: Yes, the crews do actually fix things and fast. This isn’t like other areas of the US where fix-work construction takes months and doesn’t really fix anything. Florida does get things done.

So anyway I’m traveling on I-75 southbound into Tampa and I see some big illuminated flashing signs that state, very plainly, that the road up ahead is closed and to take a detour.

Not a problem. I tap “Detour” on my GPS and grab the next exit.

It was what happened after I got off the exit ramp that was funny.

I see a bunch of people forced to take the exit because they have no other choice due to the road closure. They have no idea where they are. Several are driving really slowly wondering where to go; some were pulling into parking lots and turning around; others were indecisive about whether to turn around or not, etc.

As for me, I zipped right along on Bruce B Downs south to Busch Blvd.

One wonders if those other travelers, who are locals, ever made it home. They probably did, but not without getting a bit lost first. Some most likely headed the wrong way (north), picked up 56 then headed back south on 41. Others probably headed way up north, picked up 54 and then 301 southbound (the really really long way around).

I find that amusing. :-)

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One Response to “do you know where you is”

  1. Bruce B. Blog Says:
    February 2nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm

    Hey Rich! We write a lot on our news blog about BBD closing a lane, I-75 closing entirely, etc., give people a heads-up before we head for home, etc. We’re Bruce B. Blog, New Tampa’s online, 24/7 source for news, announcements and rants, and I hope you don’t mind if we linked to your post here. Check us out, Rich and Rich’s readers. We’re at http://blogs.tampabay.com/newtampa/. Sorry about the shameless plug there. general news oa’[kpalc

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