Hate of the Day.

Soooooooooooooooooooo...anyone that lives in this area of MD/DC/VA knows that the capitol beltway is a huge mess lately. They've decided they're going to widen it and make some 'HOT' lanes which translate into either High Occupancy or Toll lanes for those sans extra bodies. All well and good. Also known as 'Lexus Lanes' for those of us who can barely afford to buy the gas it takes to get to work as it is. I'm sure the new lanes will be full of BMW's and Mercedes and my boss's shiny Lexus. That said, the whole getting there part is a mess.
I've previously mentioned the fact they are tearing down every tree in VA to do this. Aside from that, the lanes we have on the beltway keep getting taken away/moved/adjusted to accommodate the construction and it's (smells like literal dirt in here for no reason) a guess where you'll be needing to manuver to adhere to new traffic patterns. It's also just making the time it takes to get from A to B about double what it usually is...which I'm sure defeats the whole purpose of making new lanes and who knows how long this is going to take. I'm sure they have a timeline, but I make timelines for a living and assure you...we're just guessing 99% of the time and therefore wrong 99% of the time.
Sweet.
Example: it normally takes me about 30 mins. door to door to travel the 8 miles on the beltway from Springfield to Tysons, VA. Today: 51 mins.
Take 395 double the distance to DC takes me about 30 mins. at the same time of day.
I swear, I could walk and it would be about the same time-wise and less frustrating..only NO ONE walks anywhere around here. It is the most non-walking friendly area on the planet. I park adjacent to the mall parking and I feel more comfortable driving to the next parking lot than ackwardly dodging the in-between traffic to walk over there. (Oh Sephora you are worth it!) I also read in my oh-so-fun commercial real estate articles I get emailed me daily that VA (Tysons in particular) has more parking spots than actual residents and almost triple that of DC itself in the way of parking. I told you they were trying to pave the entire state.
16 mph was my average this morning. Granted, it's better when I go home -usually. But I've also had it be exactly the same. It comically takes me the same amount of time to move down the entire length of the onramp to 495 that is does to drive the rest of the way home. I kid you not.
In conclusion, I am not a beltway fan. I avoid it at all costs. Same goes with 95. You totally suck 95. and 66. This memorial day weekend when my parents are camping out somewhere where it requires me to take 66, I will be looking on an actual paper map for some way to avoid that entirely. Yes, we need the new metro extension to Tysons and the new HOT lanes will hopefully help, but in the meantime...suckage!!!!! Avoidance not always an option...and what pisses me off even more is I heard at original construction of the beltway they had planned to make 2 or 3 with that much more capacity...only they didn't! Why? Because they could not imagine a need for that much space or DC ever becoming that populated. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht...why would the capitol of the United States ever become a popular place to live or work?!?
Un-be-lievable.