As a native New Yorker, I can truly say that the transportation situation has gotten worse in New York. Last year when I went to my niece's house to celebrate her daughter's graduation, I was stuck in unbelievable traffic, without exaggeration, taking us 7 hours to get home. It was a lovely summer day for a backyard celebration. Everyone was on the road. After a wonderful meal of Italian delicacies, and many goodbye hugs and kisses , we left to go back home. In the meantime there had been a terrible accident on the Tappanzee Bridge causing a truck that collided to catch on fire and explode. Immediately this forced the bridge authorities to shut the Tappanzee down from both ends. Down by Yorktown Heights the road was clear and we were able to move quickly, until we became stuck in bumper to bumper traffic inching our way toward the bridge, only to get there and be turned around, to find another way to get home. It looked like a giant parking lot. People's cars were beginning to overheat. Naturally I panicked. We were able to reach an exit, after two hours or so, only to find ourselves lost in an unfamiliar town. Good thing there was a burger king opened, so we were able to use their bathroom and have something to drink. Frantically we began to look for a major highway that would take us to the George Washington Bridge. We ended up taking the wrong highway going in the opposite direction.When we saw an exit we got off and somehow ended up in Yonkers. Since it had been several years since I had been to Yonkers, the area looked unfamiliar, creating a great deal of stress, with our eye on the gas level. Here it is night time and not a soul in sight to ask for directions.Good thing my son had filled up the tank. Finally we came to the Major Deegan Expressway, only to be caught up again in a bumper to bumper traffic inching its way to the Cross Bronx Expressway and other main arteries. I can't tell you how stressed out I was as well as short fused, wondering if and when we would get to the George Washington bridge. From 6pm that we left Yorktown Heights in New York State, we arrived home by 2am in New Jersey.
I said to myself, I don't ever want to go through such a terrible travel experience again, hoping that noone dies, gets married or graduates so I don't have to eat my words. Let's face it, even in New Jersey the traffic is horrible going down the shore. After this trip, I decided to write an article on the Transportation crisis that New York is facing. You can read all about it here..........(click here).
If you would like to make a comment on this article please contact me at: miriammedina@earthlink.net
No comments:
Post a Comment